Heavier smoke tonight for the northern Front Range

The Alexander Mountain and Stone Canyon wildfires have been raging today and produced enormous amounts of smoke.  Most of that smoke has lofted well into the atmosphere, but unfortunately that will change tonight.  Once the sun sets, atmospheric mixing will decrease significantly and smoke will no longer be able to rise into the atmosphere.  At that point, smoke acts like water and seeks its lowest point. In the current situation, two highly populated areas are directly below these two fires.  For the Alexander Mountain, it is Loveland.  For Stone Canyon, it is Lyons.  Both of these communities can expect smoke levels to increase significantly overnight.  Please shut your windows before going to bed tonight as being inside will offer you some measure of protection from the smoke.  

Keep in mind that we are also anticipating an influx of out-of-state wildfire smoke late tonight with a cool front moving in from the north.  So there is a good chance that the entire northern Front Range region from Ft. Collins to Denver could wake up to smoky skies and elevated particle pollution levels Wednesday morning.