Hazy skies are greeting Coloradoans Saturday morning as the view from the top of Copper Mountain attests. A conveyor belt of smoke continues to be transported from distant fires in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho into Colorado. Although smoke concentrations are not overly heavy, health impacts could still be noticeable due the extreme heat we are experiencing. Additionally, high ozone is anticipated in the northern Front Range region Saturday afternoon, particularly in and near the Denver metro area.
We do anticipate some of the higher smoke levels to settle into the northern Front Range region, including Denver, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Greeley, and surrounding areas, during the afternoon hours on Saturday. You may notice the visibility around the area degrade during the afternoon and perhaps you may experience some symptoms associated with increasing levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
Individuals with heart and/or lung disease should remain especially cautious this weekend and remain indoors during the hottest part of the day when both the heat and air quality will likely be at it's worst. Even those that are considered healthy should consider making changes to their scheduling of active outdoor time, if possible. The morning hours or towards sunset would be the better options for getting outside for any type of exercise.
The good news? It appears the upper level winds will begin to shift late in the weekend and early in the work week which will cut off the flow from out-of-state wildfires. So better air air quality will likely coincide with the cooler temperatures that are also expected to arrive.
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