The much advertised smoke from wildfires in Canada has arrived to Colorado and unfortunately won't be leaving in a hurry. Highest smoke concentrations Monday morning appear to be at the higher elevation locales in north-central Colorado, including the Park Range and northern parts of the Front Range. As evidenced by the below webcam image, Rocky Mountain National Park is already beginning to see the impacts of this smoke.
There is a good chance that health advisories will need to be issued today, particularly for parts of northern and eastern Colorado. In the meantime, please get familiar with the best ways to prepare yourself and your loved ones for degraded air quality from wildfire smoke at our Wildfire smoke and health webpage. Additionally, you can monitor air quality in your area with the EPA's Fire and Smoke map.
How long do we expect the haze to last?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we will probably be dealing with varying levels of smoke for much of this week. The flow from the Canadian smoke will probably get cut off mid-week, but then we could be seeing an influx of smoke from Pacific Northwest fires later in the week before that gets shut off towards the weekend. Of course, the scenario changes from day to day so keep checking here for updates.
DeleteThanks so much, Scott. Appreciate the work you and your team are doing on this very helpful website.
DeleteThanks so much, Scott. Appreciate the work you and your team are doing on this very helpful website!
DeleteThanks for the pleasant feedback!
DeleteAny updates on the smoke forecast for this coming weekend? Here in Estes the smoke has lessened a little. Thanks
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that the smoke has lessened somewhat in Estes! Be forewarned though, I wouldn't be surprised if it pops back up again this afternoon as we get some upslope from the east plus some smoke aloft in the atmosphere may mix down. I'm feeling somewhat optimistic for the weekend, but read our latest post for more details!
ReplyDeleteYes the smoke definitely got worse in Estes this PM compared to the AM when things had improved
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that. The good news is that smoke will likely start dropping off tomorrow afternoon (though ozone could be high). A more substantial improvement will be likely Friday/Saturday.
Delete