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Air Quality Unhealthy For Everyone As Wildfire Smoke Gets Worse In Colorado

FRIDAY UPDATE: One More Bad Air Day! Smoke Will Decrease In Colorado For The Weekend

DENVER (CBS4) - Areas of thick wildfire smoke originating mainly from out-of-state will cause unhealthy air and extremely poor visibility on Thursday. In many cases the smoke will be even worse than it was on Wednesday.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for 27 counties in Colorado including the entire Denver metro area through at least 4 p.m. Thursday. The advisory applies to all individuals and not just sensitive groups like young children and older adults which is more commonly the case when air quality alerts are issued.

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The CDPHE recommends everyone living within the advised area to limit outdoor activities particularly when smoke is thick or becomes thick. Strenuous outdoor exercise is not recommended on Thursday.

Visibility is forecast to stay "extremely poor" which is the worst visibility category. CDPHE has also declared an "action day" on Thursday. They request driving gas or diesel vehicles be reduced whenever possible to lessen the impacts on air quality.

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The CBS4 weather team expects less smoke to be in the air by Thursday night and while Friday will be hazy, there should be lower concentrations of smoke and therefore somewhat better air quality.

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As the amount of smoke in the air decrease in the coming days, temperatures will increase.  High temperatures in the Denver metro area should come close to 90 degrees on Saturday.

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