Southwest Colorado residents woke up Monday to a red sun and hazy air caused by out-of-state wildfires that prompted an air-quality alert, according to the National Weather Service.
An air-quality alert for La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, Dolores and other western Colorado counties warned of moderate to heavy smoke from northeastern Utah wildfires through Monday evening, at least.
“If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood, you may want to remain indoors,” said the alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “If visibility is less than 5 miles in your neighborhood, smoke has reached levels that are unhealthy.”
This is especially true for those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young and the elderly, the alert said. It suggested limiting outdoor activity when moderate to heavy smoke is present and relocating temporarily if smoke is present indoors and is making you ill.
After a sunny Labor Day weekend, westerly winds pushed smoke into Southwest Colorado from fires in California and northern Utah. The winds are part of a storm front predicted to bring lower temperatures and possible snow into the region Tuesday and Wednesday. Weather forecasts for Durango showed midweek rain, not snow, as of Monday.
“It’s a front that’s to our north. It’s basically leading to westerly winds out ahead of that front, which is what is leading to that smoke being drifted across and into our area,” said Mark Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
Rain and snow moving into the area will significantly decrease smoke concentrations in northwestern Colorado by early Tuesday morning, with slower improvement expected for Southwest Colorado.
The smoke also caused the sun to appear red Monday, which is caused by particulate matter hanging in the air and filtering the light, Miller said.
“The smoke’s coming from California and the Uinta Mountains of northeast Utah that’s just drifting to the east and coming into our area,” Miller said.
California has 37 active fires, the largest of which is the 397,000-acre Santa Clara Unit Lightning Complex Fire southeast of San Francisco, according to The Los Angeles Times. The Times shows four fires in northeastern Utah, the largest of which is the 5,061-acre East Fork Fire.
Wildfire smoke from California and other western fires had spread across more than 20 states, as far east as Tennessee as of Monday morning, according to a NOAA map that tracks wildfire smoke.
The smoke did not seem to be coming from Colorado fires, like the Pine Gulch wildfire near Grand Junction, Miller said. Pine Gulch is the largest fire in Colorado’s recorded history at 139,006 acres, according to The Denver Post.
smullane@durangoherald.com