The National Weather Service office in Great Falls had a busy week issuing urgent weather products for the Helena area, and taken together they paint a picture that anyone who has lived through a Montana fire season should recognize. A Heat Advisory ran through Sunday with temperatures threatening to hit 100 degrees in the Helena area. A Red Flag Warning covered Lewis and Clark County through Friday night, citing low humidity and gusty winds. A Fire Weather Watch extended the concern north across a broad swath of north-central Montana into the weekend. Then, just to underline the point, a two-acre wildfire — the Gray Fire — broke out in neighboring Jefferson County. None of these events is catastrophic on its own, but the pattern this week is a clear signal that fire season has arrived in earnest. Residents should have defensible space around their homes, know their evacuation routes, and pay attention to alerts from Lewis and Clark County emergency management. The National Weather Service Great Falls office appeared in multiple stories this week and is worth following directly for the most current conditions.