Wildfire Smoke

Researchers found that those wildfires increase the “occurrences of heavy precipitation rates by 38%” in our region, according to their work in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A paper out of the University of Utah shows that plume heights are increasing more than 300 feet every year in mountain ranges in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

With a warming climate and drought throughout our region, Colorado’s fire season is getting longer. More smoke, as well as emissions and smog, is contributing to Colorado’s already bad air quality. Add allergies to that, and it can be hard for people to breathe.

The Mountain West is known for big blue skies. But several cities here are among the nation’s worst for short-term air pollution levels, according to a new American Lung Association study. Wildfire smoke is an increasing factor, but so is smog from growing cities across the region.

The recent Marshall Fire leveled some homes to the ground, leaving many others intact but uninhabitable due to smoke and ash. In some cases, the damage is so severe that moving back any time soon seems impossible.

After another historic wildfire season, scientists from across the region will gather virtually to discuss what to do about the health impacts of wildfire smoke.

New research is the first to use GPS-tracking data to look into the effects of wildfire smoke on bird migration. Its findings suggest that tagged geese changed their behavior to avoid smoky conditions.

Concerns about sending kids back to school have revolved around the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But as the wildfire season has become longer, smoke finding its way into the classroom is also a problem. The Mountain West News Bureau's Maggie Mullen reports on the battle to keep children safe.

Massive wildfires across the West have worsened the air in Colorado, contributing to roughly double the number of days residents are exposed to dangerous fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 versus a decade ago. Researchers say the air can be hazardous even if you don't see or smell smoke.

Western wildfires pose a much broader threat to human health than to just those forced to evacuate the path of the blazes. Smoke from these fires, which have burned millions of acres in California alone, is choking vast swaths of the country, an analysis of federal satellite imagery by NPR’s California Newsroom and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab found.