The smoke from wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest and Canada that has been smothering Colorado for days will start clearing out today, the National Weather Service said.
The change comes from a shift in wind patterns and a high-pressure ridge that has been lingering over Colorado, said Kenley Bonner, a meteorologist with the service’s Boulder forecast office. Winds from the north that have been pulling in the smoke are now shifting to a westerly flow and the high pressure system is moving East, she said.
“We're still going to have some of it, but it's not going to be nearly as prevalent as what we've seen,” she said.
Friday should be relatively smoke-free across much of Colorado, but Bonner said that could change if the wildfires — which have caused widespread damage and forced thousands to flee fast-moving flames — worsen or weather patterns radically shift.
State authorities are still warning residents about the health effects of heavy smoke today. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued an air quality alert until 4 p.m. for much of the Front Range, including Douglas County, the Denver-Boulder metro, Fort Collins and Greeley.
The agency also warns that ozone pollution — a persistent problem that has been particularly bad this summer — will also add to the region’s poor air quality this afternoon.
