Westerly winds carried wildfire smoke into Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners on Wednesday, reducing visibility and even lowering temperatures across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
The smoke was coming from the 31,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in southwest Utah, which was burning on the Beaver-Plute county line northeast of Cedar City, said Matthew Aleksa, meteorologist with the NWS in Grand Junction.
“It’s a pretty large fire, so all that smoke is being transported this way, and that’s why we’re seeing the hazy skies,” Aleksa said.
Satellite imaging shows Durango on the southern edge of the plume, he said.
The smoke was expected to stick around through much of the day Wednesday, possibly dissipating this afternoon and Thursday as thunderstorms move into the region, Aleksa said.
Winds were expected to shift to a more southwesterly flow on Friday and Saturday, which will further reduce the level of smoke in the Four Corners, he said.
“Even though we’ll get some showers and storms today and Thursday, those will be moving out by Friday,” Aleksa said. “... We do have potential for widespread critical fire weather conditions returning for Friday and Saturday, so we'll be pretty windy, and that’s just something to be aware of as we head into the later half of the week and into the weekend.”
Smoke from the Cottonwood Fire has been visible in Grand Junction for a couple of days, he said. It is so thick that it is reducing the daily high temperature by a few degrees in some areas, he said.
“The smoke kind of acts as a blanket ‒ like cloud cover preventing the sun from penetrating through and really getting your full heating or mixing that can occur with full sun,” Aleksa said.
shane@durangoherald.com
