Today’s Forecast:
An Air Quality Alert will remain in effect until at least 9 am Thursday, but could be extended beyond that as lingering smoke and ground level ozone levels remain elevated over Southern Colorado. Overall, I do see some improvement to our forecast today. Westerly winds will develop in the upper levels over the next 12-24 hours, helping to push the worst of the smoke and haze away from Colorado, and off to our east.
Temperatures today will be hotter than yesterday, climbing into the 80s and 90s region-wide. Dry skies will continue across the Plains on Thursday, with scattered showers and thunderstorms once again possible across the mountains.
Colorado Springs forecast: High: 91; Low: 60. Thursday's forecast may offer a slight improvement to the persistent amounts of heavy smoke, haze and ozone that we've seen so far this week. Further clearing is expected on Friday and this weekend.
Pueblo forecast: High: 97; Low: 62. Hot and hazy, with areas of smoke on Thursday as wildfire smoke from fires in Canada and Oregon continue to impact our quality of life here in Southern Colorado.
Canon City forecast: High: 94; Low: 63. Hot, hazy and smoky skies, with rain not likely this afternoon over eastern Fremont County.
Woodland Park forecast: High: 82; Low: 52. Warming highs and hazy skies will be the big story as rain chances appear to be fairly limited today in Woodland Park.
Tri-Lakes forecast: High: 80s; Low: 50s. Dry, hot and hazy as temperatures this afternoon climb into the middle to upper 80s for Monument and the Tri-Lakes area.
Plains forecast: High: 90s; Low: 60s. Hot, with hazy sunshine and areas of smoke this afternoon as some areas on the eastern Plains could flirt with the century mark.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: High: 80s/90s; Low: 50s/60s. Hazy and smoky again today on the southern I-25 corridor, but I'm thinking that by the afternoon and evening, we should start to see some improvement to air quality.
Mountains forecast: High: 70s/80s; Low: 40s/50s. After a smoky and hazy Wednesday, the smoke layer looks to gradually improve throughout the day on Thursday, especially for areas west of the Continental Divide. Along with clearer air today, we're also watching for the potential for scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon.
Extended outlook forecast:
Strengthening west/southwest winds in the upper levels will help to further decrease smoke and haze here in Southern Colorado on Friday. On top of clearer air, an uptick in moisture is expected from Friday into Saturday, with afternoon and evening thunderstorms possible each day from the mountains to the Plains, although the mountains will see the bulk of the action.
Highs will be in the lower 90s through Saturday in Colorado Springs before climbing into the middle to upper 90s by early next week, with triple digits returning to the Plains by Sunday as we're looking at our third major heat wave of the summer.
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