Another smoky day for the northern Front Range

 Although smoke levels have improved for many parts of Colorado Thursday, that is certainly not the case for the big cities of the northern Front Range.  Moderate to heavy smoke can be found up and down the I-25 corridor from Denver northward to the Wyoming stateline.  And embedded in this geographical area are some areas of significantly heavier smoke.  These are the areas that are directly "down drainage" from the wildfires that have plagued the region for the past few days.  In the image below from the EPA's Fire and Smoke Map, you can see much higher levels of particle pollution in and near Loveland and Longmont (and to a lesser degree, southwest Denver).  It's important for residents of these areas to limit their time outdoors this morning, if possible.  We do anticipate some improvement with the air quality as the atmosphere heats up later this afternoon.  Please remember that an Action Day for Multiple Pollutants remains in effect for this area through at least 4pm today due to high levels of both particle pollution from smoke, and ozone which will be on the increase this afternoon.