Powder River Examiner -

A multi-day heat wave blanketed the area at the beginning of the week, with temps in Broadus officially recorded at 102 on Sunday, and 105 on Monday, breaking the daily record high for July 24th.

The record highs for July 23rd stands at 105 in 1980. The previous record high on July 25th was 104 degrees, set in 2007. The overall hottest tems at that station was 110, recorded twice in 2021 – on June 15th and July 27th.

Temperatures were expected to remain near 100 on Tuesday, cooling somewhat later in the week and into the weekend.

Fire activity has remained light this summer prior to this week’s heatwave, with one 17 acre fire caused by haying equipment around 10 miles NW of Broadus over the weekend.

A dry lightning storm Monday night caused a 3500 acre east of Broadus, just north of Hwy 212. The Hay Draw Fire had county, state, and federal resources on scene, with retardant drops and heavy equipment helping to put down the flames, along with help from many local ranchers with their fire rigs.

Another fire on Baking Powder Creek was at approximately 10 acres in heavy timber. The county's new dozer helped line the fire.

With that, the traditional wildfire season is now in the works as conditions dry out and chance of dry lightning increases.

Edited from the print version with updated fire info.