Air quality in Missoula

[brohar]

I have been reading so many blogs and I just can't seem to get a straight answer. This blog seems to be the most honest. I heard from some friends that live in Missoula how great it is and how beautiful etc. But everything I am reading says there is a smelly papermill, that the winters have lots of smog and that you get maybe 3 months of clear skies and the rest are dismal and grey and the snow is slushy and icy, not "pretty" like you would imagine in Montana. So help!! I have no clue what to do. We are definitely going to move from Florida to MT but it's just a matter of where. We are young late 30's and would like to be able to make a living and have a decent rental home to start with. I don't even know what areas of Missoula are considered "nice" and "safe". Also are ALL areas of Missoula affected by the smell of the papermill and if not, what areas are good? Also is there anywhere that does NOT get smog all the time? PLEASE be brutally honest and any tips for surrounding cities and areas that you feel would be better would be great.

[theRain]

I only lived in Missoula for a year and a half, but I do recall very dense fog in the winter that would not lift for days on end. That was horrible. I think it stretched on for 12 days one time. It is gray a lot in Missoula, compared to the rest of the state. And the summer air quality is horrible, due to wildfires. Good luck!

[JoeJoeMan]

You know, I really don't want people moving here but................to be honest, I don't think the air is all that bad here, not nearly as bad as it use to be back in the 80s....., with the winter wood burning home stove and the raised road dust and wood mill emissions...........but the again there is the summer forest fire smoke that in recent years has really become a health problem..funny isn't it, that here in Montana were you really expect to have good fresh healthy air, you don't, well here in the missouls valley anyway.
The finally say on all this is, of course, the official air quality ratings, others have cited them here this board......and Missoula just does rated very well.