Glacier National Park and the Columbia Falls area should see significant precipitation starting Wednesday and running into Friday.

The National Weather Service is predicting 0.15 inch to 0.5 inch of rain for Columbia Falls. Along the Continental Divide in Glacier there could be 0.5 inch to 1.5 inches of rain in the same time frame. 

Temperatures will cool down to a high of about 71 in Hungry Horse on Thursday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Trent Smith. 

A north wind should clear out the smoke by late Wednesday, he said, giving us at least a short reprieve before it dries out this weekend. 

Unfortunately, Smith said, the system won’t bring rain to places like Washington and Oregon, where most of the smoke is coming from, though it will help with local wildfires like the Skillet Fire near Olney and the Silvertip Fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. 

Firefighters last week got a better handle on the Skillet Fire and evacuation orders were lifted for residents on the Good Creek, Alder Creek, and Greg Creek areas on Aug. 7, though only landowners are allowed into the area. There remains an areawide closure around the 3,300 acre fire which is burning southwest of Olney. 

The Silvertip Fire in the Bob Marshall is listed at more than 6,400 acres. 

“Fire activity and rates of spread continue to be relatively low. Areas of heat remain mostly in the Silvertip, Slim, and very upper portions of Lime Creeks. No recent southward or westward fire growth was observed by the reconnaissance flight on Sunday, Aug. 9,” a Forest Service update on the fire noted Monday. 

The fire has closed several trails near Pentagon and Silvertip Creek, including Trail 83 which is a main route into the Pentagon Cabin and leads to several key routes into the Bob along the Spotted Bear River. The Silvertip Fire is west of Pentagon Cabin. 

Smith said there is a chance of thunderstorms with the rain, but most of the large lightning-producing storms should be in Southwest Montana.