Environmental

If you're into RV life, van life, or camping amongst others, Montana has many excellent RV Parks to choose from. They're vastly different and offer an array of amenities from outdoor pools, playgrounds, seclusion, or creeks that run right through the property.

Almost the entire state of Montana is under some sort of heat and fire advisory on Thursday. Excessive heat continues for dozens of counties, and Red Flag Warning persist for huge chunks of Montana. Windy conditions are expected with some thunderstorm activity, increasing the chance of existing fires to grow.

There is a new wildfire burning about 7 miles northwest of Missoula and it's called the Butler Creek Fire. The fire is human-caused and crews are actively working to contain it in it's early stages.

Montana weather has become dangerous with high temperatures of 100 or more, very low humidity, and windy conditions in portions of the state. Wildfires are burning and smoke has made air quality unhealthy.

Hazy skies have covered Montana for a couple of weeks, but where exactly is the wildfire smoke coming from? We've got the wildfire map of Montana, which shows what areas can expect the most smoke in the air.

Several smaller wildfires in Montana have now combined into over 31,000 acres of burning trees and brush in the southeast portion of the state. It's called the Deadman Fire, located north of the Tongue River Reservoir in Rosebud and Big Horn Counties.

The Miller Peak wildfire in Montana is burning eight miles south of Missoula and the cause is under investigation as of this writing. The size is estimated to be about 800 acres but that number is expected to be revised with better aerial pictures.

It's mid-day on one of the warmest days of the year, and I've driven by no fewer that half a dozen homes with their sprinklers on. It's not illegal to water your lawn, but there are rules and there is common sense - both of which are being ignored too often around Bozeman.

The human-caused Horse Gulch Fire in Montana, just north of Canyon Ferry, has grown substantially since it's start on July 9th. As of Friday morning, the latest update maps the size as 10,849 acres and 0% containment.

A week of extreme temperatures have delivered wildfire season to Montana. Southwest Montana is facing a Red Flag Warning as more heat, wind, and dry conditions are expected to continue through the weekend.

Western Montana will be challenged by extremely high temperatures starting on Tuesday, with the risk of heat exhaustion becoming a real concern throughout the week. Temperatures near 100 will be common, and conditions will be very uncomfortable.

Cool rocks and gemstones have been my jam since I was a little kid. Every family road trip would have me scouring the roadsides for "Rock Shop" signs or anything of the like.