Heavy morning smoke in parts of western Montrose County

 The Bucktail Wildfire remains active in western Montrose County with morning satellite imagery  revealing heavy smoke in areas near the fire.  The communities of Nucla and Naturita are most likely to be impacted.  The good news is that we should see gradual improvement through the morning hours and into Monday afternoon as smoke begins to lift from the surface with the heating of the day.  Wet weather this afternoon may also provide benefits, but there is always that threat for gusty winds and lightning strikes which could complicate matters.  So we do ask those residents in the immediate area to remain alert to changing conditions and continue to take steps to protect your health from wildfire smoke.

Meanwhile, we continue to see nice improvement in other parts of Colorado.  The large northern Front Range wildfires have eased up quite a bit and are producing far less smoke than they were a few days ago. There are some indications that we may get a moderate smoke intrusion to the northeastern corner of Colorado later this afternoon and into Monday evening, perhaps bringing some elevated fine particulate concentrations to Sterling, Julesburg and Holyoke.  But that remains uncertain at this point and we will continue to monitor the situation throughout the day.