Haze expected in skies over coming days due to Canadian wildfire smoke

When Geni Trauscht woke up this morning, the first thing she noticed was that she couldn't see the mountains. Trauchit, who was visiting Boulder from Florida, said she was confused.

“I saw the air quality notice and thought 'What is this?' I didn't think it was smoke because I didn't smell anything, it just looked hazy,” she said.

But state public health officials say the smog is caused by smog and high levels of ozone.

Smoke from wildfires in Oregon, Washington and Canada is blowing to varying degrees across much of the northern and central United States, including much of Colorado. According to meteorologists and public health officials, this situation will continue for several days.

“There's not really strong winds anywhere in the atmosphere blowing stuff away to clear this problem,” David Barjenbruch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder, told CPR News.

While the entire state has been affected by wildfire smoke, Colorado's Front Range has borne the brunt.

Air quality across the state is expected to remain poor through Wednesday, but it may not be until Friday at the latest before many Front Range residents notice improvements. Bajanbruch warned that conditions could change quickly, depending on wind direction and the possibility of renewed fires in other parts of the country's west.

“Now, it's going to be with us for at least the next two days,” Bajanbruch said. “By Friday, there are some signs that we will see enough of a pattern change that — barring another fire outbreak in the western U.S. — that's certainly possible given the continued dry weather and the drought conditions we're currently developing.”

In addition to the smoky air, the state Department of Public Health and Environment issued an ozone warning for Front Range County, including the Denver-Boulder area, Fort Collins and Greeley.

Officials advise sensitive people, especially those with asthma or other respiratory conditions, to stay indoors until 4pm on Monday and avoid strenuous outdoor activities. But Scott Landers, Colorado air quality forecaster with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the Action Ozone Alert will likely be extended into Tuesday.

“We knew the smoke was coming in, but we didn't know how high it would be,” Landers said. “So today at 4 p.m. we will most likely upgrade the Ozone Action Day Alert to an Action Day for multiple pollutants. So we're talking about expected high ozone concentrations today and tomorrow as well as elevated levels of fine particulate matter. So we're talking about , the air quality is indeed expected to be poor for at least the next 24 hours.

Separate ozone air quality health warnings have also been issued for northern Tyler, western El Paso, eastern Fremont and northwest Pueblo counties until 9 p.m. Monday.

Health officials are also asking residents to reduce emissions when possible by biking or walking, mixing errands, filling up cars and trucks after dusk and mowing lawns after 5 p.m.