As of this writing, there is some hope that the wildfire smoke pall brought into the Valley by a cold front earlier this week may have been drifted away by mid-week. The National Weather Service in Pueblo reported, amid the grey mass veiling the Sangre de Cristo and he Collegiate Peaks, that area smoke would be cleared Wednesday. Hot and dry conditions, teetering on the brink of a NWS heat hazard alert and clearly prime fire weather, remain for the week, with some chance of showers returning over the weekend.
As for the measured air quality, the fire.airnow.gov website listed central Fremont County in the “moderate” category Monday afternoon, meaning that the air quality is acceptable, but places vulnerable people—elderly, those with pulmonary challenges—at risk. Some local residents though, were complaining of burning eyes and runny noses, and in market aisles the neighborly chatter was all about “smoke so thick you could slice it.”
In the mix of the pall are drifting plumes from the Monroe Canyon fire in Central Utah and the Dragon Bravo fire in northern Arizona. Closer to home though, are the contributions to the pall made by lingering fires in Dolores, La Plata, and Montrose counties. On Sunday, Governor Polis announced a disaster emergency for the area affected by the Elk fire, ignited the previous day southeast of Meeker, in Rio Blanca County. On the heels of that critical incident, an additional fire, the Lee fire, broke out to the west of Meeker. Mid-day Monday the Monument fire was reported near Hamilton, south of Meeker in Moffat County.
Smoke and fire maps of Colorado indicate that the western third of the state, where major wildfires are active or smoldering, is more intensely affected.
Locally, smoke haze is attendant to fire season. The common sense counsel provided at airnow.gov’s “When Smoke is in the Air” certainly applies here: keep track of the sometimes quickly changing conditions, use N95 respirator masks (cloth masks are not effective), take it easier than usual in terms of physical exertion, and reschedule outdoor activities.
– W.A. Ewing