BUTTE — Despite a sky full of haze and smoke over southwest Montana on Thursday, we had enough hazy sunshine to have highs rise more than on Wednesday. The dry and cloud-free air will allow us to cool rapidly down to the 40s and lower 50s Friday morning. In the short term, our weather pattern won't change too much in the northern Rockies. We have a strong ridge well to our south, a trough over southern Canada, and that will keep our weather dry and warmer than average. Our long term forecast won't change for a while, either.