Smoke and wind forecast for the western CO wildfires: lots of smoke moving across the state

08/05/25 8:45am: Morning, smokey and cloudy on the front-range this morning as smoke moves in from the west. But its going to get smokier and the big concern is the wind, hot temps and fire spread in western CO, which is going to get really smokey.

Smoke from the Elk and Grease fires (south of Meeker) will blow over most of northern / northwestern CO. I feel really bad for the folks near Meeker, Craig and Steamboat which will be inundated with smoke at times over the next 2-4 days, especially from this evening through tomorrow morning (going to get bad).

Also smoke from Turner Gulch Fire (south of GJ, west of Delta) will also move across much of the central / north-central mountains today and tomorrow.

The wind is going to be strong over western CO today where there are Red Flag Warnings in place for today, tomorrow (Wed) and Thu. Strong wind each afternoon over all of western CO. For today southwest wind gusts of 20-40mmph especially from 12pm-8pm. Basically a repeat for Wed and Thu (wind maybe slightly less strong).

Also some strong wind over the north-central mountains and especially the front-range mountains near the Cont. Divide this afternoon (11am-8pm): westerly wind gusts of 30-60 mph (strongest above 10k ft).

For Den/Bou hot, cloudy and smoky with some stronger wind in/near the foothills this afternoon (gusts of 20-30 mph in spots). Similar tomorrow but turning more smokey.

HRRR smoke models shows a strong plume of surface smoke spreading from the Elk / Grease fire across Steamboat then towards Walden, Cameron Pass, RMNP and even extending toward IPW and Boulder county (including Boulder) from 5pm this evening through 5am tomorrow morning with some thick smoke in spots (especially bad from Steamboat west as I mentioned).

No real relief from this pattern until Saturday into Sunday....a cold front will move into the front-range Fri night into Sat. Better storm chances across the state starting Sat, with even better chances by Sun, but its a ways out. So it will be hot and dry before Sat.

First image loop shows forecast near-surface smoke over the next 48hrs (6am this morning through 6am Thu) from latest HRRR. Second image is a static image at 10pm tonight showing the very thick smoke plume moving east. Image 3 shows where the Red Flag Warnings are for the next 3 days. Image 4 shows forecast wind-gusts at 2pm today from latest HRRR.