DENVER — Dust and smoke blowing in from fires, dry land and construction this spring periodically have turned Colorado’s blue skies red, and air quality experts anticipate more crazy haze in the future as wind scours particles from the arid Southwest.
Nose-level concentrations of tiny, lung-lodging particles hit 24-hour averages as high as 207 micrograms per cubic meter of air Monday afternoon in Colorado Springs. That’s 33% higher than a federal health threshold of 155 micrograms. The level spiked briefly to 422, at a state monitor near Colorado College before sunrise, then quickly dissipated — a challenge for state officials tasked with keeping public health warnings current.
Multiple sources mix, state and federal meteorologists said, as high winds carry roiling clouds. Wildfire smoke from New Mexico, where fires have burned more than 250,000 acres, has risen into high-level air currents. Dust from the bone-dry Four Corners region and other landscapes reached Colorado’s urban Front Range. And exposed grit from the common construction sites, where topsoil has been scraped away, intensifies the wind-churned brew.
