Despite the hazy appearance, air quality in southern Colorado remains at moderate levels, which generally doesn't pose significant health concerns for most residents.
With major wildfires burning across western Colorado, smoke has become a visible concern for many residents. However, experts note that what appears in the sky doesn't always reflect ground-level conditions.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment indicates that air typically becomes unhealthy once smoke reduces visibility below five miles.
"I honestly didn't notice it too much today until I was coming back from my hike," Tori Lopez, a local hiker, said today at Cheyenne Canon.
Despite the smoky appearance, many residents are continuing outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and walking their dogs. Which is fine: the smoke is elevated.
It's important to understand that air quality goes beyond what's visible. Sometimes invisible chemicals and particulates can pose greater dangers than visible smoke.
Air quality is measured on a scale from 0 to 500 called the Air Quality Index (AQI). Higher numbers indicate more unhealthy air conditions.
The AQI doesn't just measure smoke. It also considers ozone, other hazardous chemicals, and various types of particulates in the air.
The index breaks down into several categories: 0-50 is good, 51-100 is moderate, 101-150 becomes unhealthy for those with respiratory issues, 151-200 is unhealthy for everyone, 201-300 is very unhealthy, and anything over 301 is hazardous and very rare. Without getting overly technical - these numbers are calculated and converted from "parts per million". This means "amount of molecules of pollutant" per million molecules of air. For example, according to the EPA, 9 parts per million of carbon monoxide, equals an AQI of 100. This is scaled for different types of pollutants into one clean and easy to understand number (the AQI). This accounts for altitude, and also means it doesn't take that much pollution to cause significant air quality issues.
Although skies have appeared smoky, air quality in southern Colorado has remained moderate at worst, which doesn't present health concerns for most people. If you're particularly sensitive to smoke, you may have minor impacts, but air quality needs to reach an "unhealthy" tier for most sensitive individuals to be impacted.
This is not true across the western slope. The zones closest to the fires DO have poor air quality, and most individuals will be affected.
For real-time air quality forecasts and updates, your best bet is the Colorado Department of Health and Environment website, which provides the most accurate information about local air quality conditions using various sensors, and air quality alerts. This is more accurate than estimating air quality based on what you see nearby under most circumstances. However, if you see a new fire visible from your home and it's producing thick smoke at the ground - you can reliably expect air quality to be poor; the sensors update often, but not immediately.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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