BILLINGS — Much of Montana may be covered in smoke and haze from the Idaho wildfires, but it’s something the state has been experiencing all summer. According to a study by the U.S. Forest Service, Montana’s wildfire season has gotten longer, leading to more days of poorer air quality.

For Billings resident Holly Caufield, the foggy air meant her plans had to change.

“We were going to go paddleboarding, but it was kind of dirty and foggy, so we decided, I don’t know, it was just kind of depressing,” Caufield said Monday at Billings Rims.

Mother Nature had other plans, so Caufield decided to take her dog Maze for a walk on the Rims.

Justin McKinsey/MTN News

“Just a little depressing. Disgusting, stuffy, makes us a little tired. Headaches,” Caufield said.

That’s true for people across much of the state, from Missoula to Miles City.

“In the central part of the state, temperatures are now at unhealthy levels… we are approaching unhealthy levels right now in the Billings area,” said John Wetenkamp, ​​a meteorologist with the Billings National Weather Service.

According to Wetenkamp, ​​a longer fire season means hazier skies in Big Sky Country.

“There is an increase in fire activity, so we probably have more days with poor air quality than in the past, due to the increase in forest fires,” Wetenkamp said.

Alina Hauter/MTN News

According to a recent study by the US Forest Service, fire seasons have become significantly longer. The length of the fire season increased by 18.7% from 1979 to 2013.

In some Montana forests, the fire season is an average of 36 days longer each year. In eastern Montana, including the site of this year’s massive Remington Fire, the fire season is 42 days longer than it was 30 years ago.

“That has a lot to do with changes in precipitation patterns, higher temperatures and also the fact that we as a society are becoming more vulnerable to forest fires and their consequences, because the population in some of the areas that are more susceptible to forest fires is increasing,” Wetenkamp said.

More fire means more smoke, and in Caufield’s case, that means more headaches, even though her dogs may not mind.

“They like it, they enjoy it, I don’t think it really bothers them,” Caufield said.