Thursday is expected to bring warmer temperatures to the Denver area after a cool day Wednesday, but expect to see otherwise — with plenty of smoke obscuring the mountains.
Smoke from wildfires on the West Coast drifted into Colorado along with a weak cold front Wednesday morning, said Todd Dankers, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Boulder. The high reached just 75 degrees.
“It’s probably going to be another day with some pretty hazy, smoky skies,” Dankers said. “This kind of restricted visibility is going to continue. We have high pressure above us. … Now there’s no wind to push (the smoke) out for a couple days.”
Aside from calm winds, the Denver area’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid-80s Thursday. Much the same is expected Friday, with a high of 87, and Saturday will bring similar warmth with a greater chance for clouds — but likely little in the way of moisture, Dankers said.
The only X-factor is that thicker smoke have a cooling effect, he said.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment through 9 a.m. Thursday for wide swaths of the Eastern Plains and the southern Front Range, including the Colorado Springs and Pueblo areas.
The Denver metro area wasn’t included in that advisory, issued Wednesday afternoon, but that doesn’t mean it will be in the clear.
The health department says all of Colorado is likely to see “periods of smoke from both in-state and out-of-state wildfires” through the coming weekend.
