Lots of smoke in Colorado on Friday, varying impacts by region

Fire activity has picked up across the west, including several new starts within Colorado. The greatest impacts are bring experienced by folks in southwestern parts of the state. Smoke from the Sowbelly Fire in southeast Mesa County, the South Rim Fire in eastern Montrose County, and the Deer Creek Fire in Utah (just west of the Colorado Border, west of Montrose County) are the primary sources of smoke locally. However several fires in other states are contributing as well.

Satellite image from 7:50 am on Friday July 11th shows smoke impacting many areas of southwestern Colorado, with heavy smoke lingering in mountain valleys. Image courtesy of CIRA/CSU.

The Air Quality Health Advisory for Wildfire Smoke has been expanded to include much of the 4-Corners/SW Colorado region. Daytime mixing of the atmosphere may decrease smoke in many areas during the day on Friday, however with hot and dry conditions expected to continue, fire activity and smoke production will likely result in similar impacts Friday night and Saturday morning; potentially continuing through the coming weekend.

Map from EPA's fire.airnow.gov shows the locations of fires and monitored smoke impacts in southwestern Colorado on Friday morning.

While our focus remains in the areas that are most severely impacted by smoke, hazy skies and light-to-moderate concentrations are possible statewide. Surface impacts will likely vary greatly from place to place and at different times throughout the day. We encourage anyone who is sensitive to fine particulate pollution to consider taking action to protect their health. Information can be found on our webpage to help determine what steps are appropriate.

We will keep a close watch on all of these incidents and will post developments and our expectations here as things progress.