The Derby fire is located in central Colorado approximately 13 miles north of Dotsero and remains quite active Thursday morning. CDPHE issued an air quality health advisory yesterday for four counties due to smoke moving to the south and east of the fire. One concern was that smoke would be trapped within the narrow mountain valleys in this area, but fortunately many parts of the advisory area only have light to moderate smoke Thursday morning. Therefore, the advisory for today will be smaller with the removal of Summit, Lake, and Pitkin Counties. Eastern parts of Eagle County also look OK, but the advisory today will continue for western Eagle County with the addition of a small part of eastern Garfield County. Below is a map with areas most likely to receive periods of heavy smoke through Friday morning.
Heavy morning smoke can be expected in the vicinity of Sweetwater Lake in eastern Garfield County, along with locations on Colorado River Road between Dotsero and Burns. Meanwhile, the stretch of Interstate 70 between Dotsero and Eagle (including Gypsum) are also included in today's advisory.
A new data point has revealed that heavy smoke is still impacting parts of southeastern Dolores and northeastern Montezuma Counties in southwestern Colorado from the Stoner Mesa fire. Campgrounds and residences along Highway 145 between Dolores and Rico, especially in the Stoner area, will experience heavy smoke Thursday morning with likely some improvement during the afternoon hours. Smoke will likely return again to this area late Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Looking ahead, there is some promising news in the long-range forecast for the Western Slope. An increase in monsoonal moisture is anticipated starting on Friday and continuing into the weekend. This should help to decrease fire activity and smoke production somewhat, but we will also need to monitor for potential new fire starts from lightning strikes.
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