Snow, rain push smoky air away in Southern Colorado

Monday many woke up to smoke in the air, prompting air quality advisories in much of Colorado.

"Even though you were in Colorado Springs, and you were far away from the fire. The wind, the activity of the fires and the number of fires were just sending smoke all your way," said Christine Wiedinmyer, an Associate Director for Science at CU Boulder.

The heavy smoke was so unhealthy, some experts advised the younger and older population to stay indoors.

"Finer particles, they're known as PM2.5 those can lodge deep in the lungs and cause respiratory disease and problems, aggravate asthma, and they've even been known to cause premature mortality and other hospitalizations," she said.

Tuesday it all changed with snow and rain moving into the front range. Although Wiedinmyer said there are reports from NOAA that show the air quality around Colorado College is still moderate.

Still, she says winds pushed in moisture, decreasing smoke concentrations and bringing relief to the at-risk population.

"In terms of air quality impacts, it probably helped clean out and send the particles somewhere else," Wiedinmyer said.

As for how the smoke got to Southern Colorado, she says it was a combination of several fires.

"Most of the air or almost all of it was coming from the Cameron Peak Fire and then there was also additional fires in Utah and and some fo the haze was even coming from California," Wiedinmyer said.

She's hopeful the moisture and precipitation will help firefighters in the area.

"The rain precipitation will at least reduce the fire activity, kind of hold it down to allow it to be better managed and controlled," Wiedinmyer said.