Denver Weather: Smoky With Record Highs Likely, Ozone Alert For Poor Air Quality

DENVER (CBS4) - It's smoky along the Front Range due to a massive wildfire burning north of Grand Junction and we expect westerly winds to keep the sky hazy for the next several days. The smoke settles near the ground during the overnight hours and that makes the smell potent. An alert for wildfire smoke continues for parts of Mesa County and Garfield County.

The only benefit to wildfire smoke is that it can make for amazing sunrises and sunsets. The particulate matter in the smoke is good at filtering the color red out of the visible light spectrum coming from the sun. The picture below was sent to us by David Kelly Saturday evening. It was taken near Cherry Creek State Park.

We are expecting record-level high temperatures in the Denver area today with upper 90s. We could even see a few places hit the low 100s. Denver's record for this date is 98 degrees.

There is an Ozone Alert in effect until 4 pm for the entire Front Range urban corridor, including Castle Rock, Denver, Greeley, Boulder and Fort Collins. In addition to pollution the added wildfire smoke isn't helping matters. This advisory will likely be extended into Monday.

A weak cold front will slip into eastern Colorado late tonight but it will not bring much change. High temperatures in Denver will be a bit closer to normal for Monday before climbing again for Tuesday. At this time there is no significant relief in sight from the hot and dry weather.