Climate Smart Glacier Country

06/04/2026

As part of Montana Wildfire Smoke Ready Week we will be putting on a demonstration on how to build your own Box fan HEPA filter. This is a cost effective way to clean the PM 2.5 particulate that is present in wildfire smoke and create clean air for your home. Join us on Monday the 8th, starting at 5:30 PM at Whitefish Community Library

05/21/2026

2026 Wildfire and Smoke Outlook

The public is invited to a free community forum, simulcast live from Kalispell and Missoula on Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 6:00 pm, during Montana Wildfire Smoke Ready Week to learn what to expect for the upcoming wildfire season in western Montana.

The event will be held on June 9th at 6:00 pm and simulcast in two locations with live panelists at each location:

Kalispell – Flathead Valley Community College, Arts and Technology Room 139
Missoula – Missoula Public Library Cooper Rooms A & B
The forum will also be available via Zoom for those wishing to attend remotely. Register for the Zoom event at this link: bit.ly/MTwildfireoutlook

Following Montana’s abnormally warm winter and below average snow pack, many in the region are asking what this summer may bring. While last year offered some relief from the pattern of increasing wildfire and regional smoke impacts, the question remains: Will we see another mild season or a return to more severe conditions? The forum will feature panelists who will sort through up-to-date weather and climate projections and share tips for how best to prepare for wildfires and accompanying smoke.

Panelists include:

Alex Lukinbeal – Meteorologist, National Weather Service (Missoula)
Kyle Bocinsky – Montana Climate Office at the University of Montana
Mike West – U.S. Forest Service and FireSafe Flathead
Amy Cilimburg – Climate Smart Missoula
Moderator: Adam de Yong – Climate Smart Glacier

The 2026 Wildfire and Smoke forum topics will address fire prediction forecasts, seasonal weather outlooks, drought and fuel conditions, long-term climate trends, wildfire preparedness in the wildland-urban interface, and practical strategies for reducing smoke exposure and improving indoor air quality. Panelists will also discuss potential impacts this summer of a warming Pacific ocean off the coast of North America as well as in the tropical Pacific, which impacts global weather through the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle.

Adam de Yong, a community resilience specialist with Climate Smart Glacier, notes that wildfire risk in western Montana may only partially determine whether wildfire smoke reaches unhealthy levels. “Even if we don’t have much fire activity in western Montana, smoke from fires in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada can travel into our intermountain valleys.” For that reason, de Yong says, the wildfire outlook will address fire potential in the broader region.

Montana Wildfire Smoke Ready Week, June 7-13, is designated by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and community partners to provide resources regarding health concerns and how best to prepare for smoky conditions. Clean Air Resource Centers have been established in communities across western Montana to provide public spaces where residents can find relief during periods of hazardous wildfire smoke. Smoke mitigation programs are available in some communities to help vulnerable households and child care facilities improve indoor clean air.

Forum sponsors include Climate Smart Glacier, Climate Smart Missoula, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, FireSafe Flathead, Montana Climate Office, and Missoula Public Health.

05/20/2026

The City of Whitefish and SWCA Environmental Consultants are preparing a new Community Wildfire Protection Plan to mitigate wildfire risk in and around Whitefish and to assist property owners to reduce risks. Learn more at a Community Workshop on Wednesday, May 27, 5:30 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall. Links to more information about the workshop and a public survey are in the comments.

05/04/2026

Thank you Whitefish Community Foundation and all your donors for all the work you do and all the work you enable through your generosity! This was a wonderful evening of community support and we are honored to have been a part of it and to have received money to support our Fire and Rain Resiliency programs.
This funding will help us continue to provide clean air to vulnerable populations during wildfire smoke events and to build awareness and resilience against flooding in the Flathead.

04/26/2026

https://www.usatoday.com/graphics/interactives/how-climate-change-is-impacting-winters/

As winters get shorter, climate change is causing profound changes, from activities like skiing and ice fishing to drinking water and disease.

04/20/2026

Thanks to our volunteers (Jeff, Caroline, Eleanor) for staffing the Climate Smart booth at the Earth Day Expo.

04/16/2026

Climate Smart Glacier is holding a HVAC training for HVAC technicians and Building managers on April 23rd as part of training for our Clean Air Center grant from DPHHS. This training is focused on the steps buildings can take to ensure they are providing clean air during poor air quality events caused by wildfire smoke.

If you know of anyone this training may benefit please feel free to pass along this email and the attached flyer. We do ask those planning to attend in person register for the event. We are also enabling remote access as other communities in Lincoln County are participating remotely for their Clean Air Center grant.

This training would be particularly beneficial for any facility that serves individuals who are particularly susceptible to the effects of wildfire smoke. This include both young and older individuals as well as those with asthma or other lung issues or those with heart conditions.

04/10/2026

Take the Whitefish Community Wildfire Protection Plan survey!

The survey for the 2026 City of Whitefish Community Wildfire Protection Plan is now open, and we would love to hear from you! 

04/09/2026

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2026/04/09/warm-temperatures-drive-early-onset-spring-runoff-in-northwest-montana/

Despite the mid-March storm that dropped up to 10 inches of snow-stored water in the high elevations of the Northern Rockies, warm temperatures triggered an early spring runoff as hydrologists forecast below-normal streamflows ranging between 75% and 90% of normal in the Flathead and Kootenai river....