I almost hate to write this. The Perseid meteor shower is at its peak Saturday, August 12, in the skies above our planet.

Of course, with all the smoke in Western Montana, the chances of seeing any "falling stars" is minimal. That thick smoke haze will limit your view of the night sky. Plus, the moon is still quite bright, coming out of full moon August 7th.

If you get some clear skies, though, look up! The peak of the meteor show is during the daylight hours Saturday, so Friday night on into Saturday morning is the best time to see anything. But Saturday night into Sunday morning should be good, too.

The best time to see meteor showers is after midnight until dawn. This weekend in the Bitterroot Valley (and the rest of Western Montana), that is also the time when the forest fire smoke settles in the valleys for dangerous air quality levels and it's the time the moon is high in the sky, "washing out" many of the dimmer meteor trails.

So, this year, our attention will probably not be on "fire in the sky" (thanks, John Denver), but on fire on the ground.

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