Montana air quality worse than Beijing — right now

New Dehli and Beijing are known for the poor quality of their air.

Bu the Indian and Chinese cities have nothing on Montana this week.

At 1:30 Friday afternoon, in fact, the air quality index measured New Dehli’s air at 43 and Beijing’s air at 57. New Dehli has the worst air in the world, according to a CNN story.

In Montana, Hamilton was 221, Lewistown was 186, Great Falls 165, Libby 158 and Missoula 155.

The Flathead Valley was at 50.

On the index, 0-50 on the air pollution level is good, 51-100 is moderate, 101-150 is unhealthy for sensitive groups, 151-200 is unhealthy, 201-300 is very unhealthy and above 300 is hazardous.

Any advice for those who are outdoors?

“Listen to (your) own body,” said Kristen Martin, Department of Environmental Quality air quality meteorologist. “Limit exertion, spend as much time indoors as (you) can.”

The cause of the poor air is primarily the result of a couple of Washington-area blazes.

In Great Falls, the cage fights that were scheduled outdoors at Centene Stadium were moved inside and an outside showing of “Despicable Me” that was scheduled for Friday in Giant Springs has moved to Aug. 29 at the same location from 8:30 to 10 p.m.

Precipitation and wind pushing into the area Friday night and early Saturday could provide some relief for the fires in Montana.

There could be a snow-rain mixture in the mountains mostly north of Lincoln, including in Glacier National Park, where the Essex-area fire is burning.

“There should be pretty good shower activity,” said Scott Coulston, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Great Falls.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that stiff wind is supposed to come ahead of the precipitation and possibly stoke the fires. And lightning and thunderstorms also are expected to accompany the precipitation.

Martin, at the DEQ, hopes the system will mean an improvement of the air quality, at least for a little while.