Smoke and Heat Advisories Cover Larimer County Monday; Smoke Traced to Out-of-State Fires

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Two National Weather Service advisories cover Larimer County on Monday: a wildfire smoke health advisory running until 9 a.m. Tuesday, and a heat advisory for temperatures of 95 to 102 degrees that expires at 6 p.m. Monday evening¹².

The smoke is not coming from Colorado. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's advisory attributes it to out-of-state wildfires and warns that areas of moderate to heavy smoke are possible across the advisory area through at least Tuesday morning¹.

That advisory took effect at 5 a.m. Monday and covers seven counties — Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt, Jackson, Grand, Larimer, and Boulder — naming Fort Collins and Boulder among the affected locations along with Craig, Meeker, Rangely, Steamboat Springs, Walden, Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, and Kremmling¹.

The health guidance is specific about who is at risk and what to do. The state warns of an increasing likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals, aggravation of heart or lung disease, and premature mortality among people with cardiopulmonary disease and older adults. Its recommendation is that people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children reduce prolonged or heavy exertion¹.

The separate heat advisory, issued at 12:48 a.m. Monday, runs until 6 p.m. the same evening and covers Larimer County below 6,000 feet and northwest Weld County, along with Boulder and Jefferson counties below 6,000 feet, west Broomfield, north Douglas County below 6,000 feet, Denver, west Adams and Arapahoe counties, east Broomfield, Elbert and central and east Douglas counties above 6,000 feet, and northeast, central, and south Weld County. The Weather Service names Fort Collins, Boulder, the western suburbs of Denver, Denver, Castle Rock, Briggsdale, and Greeley, and warns that the temperatures may cause heat illnesses².

Colorado's own active wildfires are burning well south and west of the advisory area. Federal incident data lists the Elk fire in Hinsdale County at 2,349 acres and 49 percent contained, and the Rio Blanco fire in Archuleta County at 1,083 acres and 11 percent contained, both updated within the past day. Two larger Moffat County fires near Craig — Fuhr Gulch at 1,650 acres and Big Gulch at 1,055 acres — are both listed at 100 percent containment, last updated July 30 and July 27 respectively. The Pine Ridge fire, also in Moffat County, was listed as contained at 24 acres early Monday. The smaller incidents in the same dataset — Muddy Creek in Huerfano County, Finley Canyon and Hand in Montezuma County, Spence Creek in Archuleta County — are all under 16 acres³.