Thursday morning wildfire update

 There is some encouraging news in the blog this morning as we are anticipating a little more moisture at the group of wildfires in western Colorado today.  We are not expecting heavy, soaking rainfall, but relative humidity and cloud cover should be somewhat higher than yesterday. This potentially could decrease fire activity and smoke production.  Additionally, the transport winds (the winds high in the atmosphere that carry smoke to distant locations) should also be weaker today. "Moderate" concentrations of fine particulates this morning are an improvement from what we saw yesterday.

Fine particulate measurements in western Colorado show "Moderate" levels of smoke.  Map courtesy of the EPA's fire and smoke map.

With this change in the weather pattern, we have shrunk the advisory footprint this morning.  So we are anticipating better air quality for locations away from the fire, such as Aspen, Gunnison, and Telluride.  However, counties that are close to the fire will continue to have a chance for periods of moderate to heavy smoke.  This includes the entirety of Mesa County, including Grand Junction, along with Delta and Montrose Counties. Residents in this area should continue to take action to protect your health from wildfire smoke.

It is important to know that wildfires are very unpredictable, particularly when they are located in complex terrain like we find in this part of western Colorado.  Therefore, we will closely monitor these fires throughout the day today and will not hesitate to expand the advisory again if necessary.  CDPHE is working closely with the agencies deployed to these fires, including the US Forest Service which has deployed an Air Resource Advisor to the Turner Gulch fire in southern Mesa County.  Additional smoke outlook products from resources deployed at these fires can be found at Inciweb and on the EPA's fire and smoke map.