The AC sold out. The trout are off-limits.
Morning. It hit the mid-90s all weekend, the portable-AC aisle at Owenhouse is officially a rumor, and half the valley floated the Madison to cool off. Today's a rerun — near 96 — so here's your Bozeman in five: a heat wave the town is scrambling to answer, a downtown parking vote that lands tomorrow night, and where the trout (and you) can catch a break. Iced coffee, then go.
Bozeman spent the weekend cooling off any way it could.
The valley sat in the mid-90s and brushed 100° on Sunday — a year ago this week we were in the low 80s. The heat pulled the town two directions at once: hundreds floated the Madison at the Warm Springs and California Corner launches, while the portable-AC aisle at Owenhouse Ace emptied out — both Bozeman stores moved more than 40 units in a week, box fans close behind.
The response that mattered most was quieter. HRDC opened Homeward Point early Sunday — 8 a.m. instead of the usual 5 p.m. — as a Code Red cooling refuge, and says it'll keep extending hours and lifting capacity limits any day the forecast tops 100°. "Extreme heat can be just as dangerous as extreme cold for people without stable housing," HRDC president Heather Grenier said.
It's not over: near 96 again today and 94 Tuesday, with a slim chance of afternoon storms to knock it down. Check on the neighbors who don't have AC — this is the week for it.
Tomorrow night, downtown parking goes to a vote.
The commission meets Tuesday (July 14) at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 121 N. Rouse, and item H.1 on the agenda is a provisional adoption — the first of two votes — on new parking rules for the B-3 downtown core. Whatever passes takes effect on or after October 1, so two minutes of comment now beats a parking gripe in the fall: written comment goes to comments@bozemanmt.gov by noon Tuesday. Read the full breakdown →
Also on the docket:
- Legacy short-term rentals in the RA district (H.2) — the commission chooses between two ordinance alternatives.
- $1.43M from the school district to the city (F.3) for first construction at the Bozeman Sports Park, plus a first step toward an affordable-housing revenue bond (F.9).
- Two street renames (H.3–H.4): Thomas Drive becomes North 27th Avenue, and Graf east of Tracy becomes East Graf. Update your delivery apps before dinner lands on the wrong block.
The city, MSU students, and disability nonprofit Ability Montana rolled out a downtown accessibility map that pins every ADA parking space, curb ramp, and accessible entrance downtown — 39 spots mapped, with a tool to measure the walk from car to door. Timely, given tomorrow's vote.
MSU sophomore Lauren Nau rewrote the record book at the Montana Women's Amateur, shooting a 13-under 203 at Cottonwood Hills for the lowest three-day total in the championship's 109-year history — and winning by 15 strokes, the biggest margin since 1988.
A downtown stabbing early Saturday on East Main ended with an arrest within minutes, after officers used a business's security footage to identify a suspect who now faces felony assault and endangerment charges. Bozeman Police say the victim was treated and released, and there's no ongoing danger.
Tinworks Art opened Chisel & Razor, pairing sculptor Edmonia Lewis — among the first Black and Anishinaabe artists to win international acclaim — with her brother Samuel, an 1868 Bozeman barber whose success helped bankroll her career. It runs through 2027.
Near 96 and sunny again, with about a 20% chance of a late-afternoon thunderstorm that's mostly here to tease. Do the outdoor stuff before noon and hydrate like it's a paying job.
- Tuesday (July 14): the Montana Chamber Music Society festival (running July 12–18) makes a Belgrade stop at Peace Lutheran, 7 p.m., tickets at the door — before it wraps Saturday on the MSU campus.
- Thursday (July 16): Music on Main is back downtown — the free summer street party, now in its 26th year, where you'll run into everyone you know.
- Fri–Sun (July 17–19): Summer Crazy Days turns downtown into a sidewalk sale — the year's best excuse to buy boots you'll wear twice.
- Saturday (July 18): the Gallatin Valley Farmers' Market relocates to the Story Mansion lawn (9–noon) for fair week.
The rivers are low, warm, and asking for a break.
The Gallatin's down to 748 cfs at the Gateway gauge (481 at Logan), and the heat has trout stressed valley-wide. FWP just added hoot-owl restrictions on the upper Madison — no fishing 2 p.m. to midnight — on top of Yellowstone's earlier closures on the Madison, Firehole and Gibbon. Rule of thumb: trout start dying near 77°, so fish at first light, land them fast, and let the afternoon water rest. Or skip the rod and grab a tube — the floaters clearly won this round.
Beating the heat without driving to the Madison.
The in-town options are open: Bogert Pool, the Bozeman Swim Center, and Story Mill Park's new splash pad. And if you'd rather help than cool off, HRDC is collecting bottled water for its emergency cooling shelter — drop-offs at Marketplace Entrance No. 3, 206 E. Griffin Drive.
How are you surviving this one?
AC, river, basement, or sheer denial — hit reply and tell us your heat-wave move (add "print it" and we might share it Wednesday). We read every one.