{"id":134542,"date":"2026-06-24T07:21:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/utah-wildfire-blankets-southwest-colorado-with-smoke\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T19:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:16:14","slug":"utah-wildfire-blankets-southwest-colorado-with-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/utah-wildfire-blankets-southwest-colorado-with-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah wildfire blankets Southwest Colorado with smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8d0aec78-a0ba-5c83-b5ef-57d6af0b843f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8d0aec78-a0ba-5c83-b5ef-57d6af0b843f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8d0aec78-a0ba-5c83-b5ef-57d6af0b843f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8d0aec78-a0ba-5c83-b5ef-57d6af0b843f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" alt=\"Wildfire smoke enveloped much of Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners on Wednesday morning. The smoke was being carried in from the 31,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in southwest Utah, which was burning on the Beaver-Plute county line northeast of Cedar City. (Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Wildfire smoke enveloped much of Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners on Wednesday morning. The smoke was being carried in from the 31,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in southwest Utah, which was burning on the Beaver-Plute county line northeast of Cedar City. (Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Westerly winds carried wildfire smoke into Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners on Wednesday, reducing visibility and even lowering temperatures across the region, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n<p>The smoke was being blown in from the 61,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in southwest Utah, which was burning on the Beaver-Plute county line northeast of Cedar City, said Matthew Aleksa, meteorologist with the NWS in Grand Junction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty large fire, so all that smoke is being transported this way, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re seeing the hazy skies,\u201d Aleksa said.<\/p>\n<p><\/p><div class=\"naviga-social-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1bGIutWo5fn3bWErmzkt6Zvjz6aAn4YM&amp;ehbc=2E312F\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p>Satellite imaging shows Durango on the southern edge of the plume, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The smoke was expected to dissipate Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning as thunderstorms moved through the region, Aleksa said.<\/p>\n<p>Winds were expected to shift to a more southwesterly flow on Friday and Saturday, which will further reduce the level of smoke in the Four Corners, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do have potential for widespread critical fire weather conditions returning for Friday and Saturday, so we\u2019ll be pretty windy,\u201d Aleksa said, \u201cand that\u2019s just something to be aware of as we head into the later half of the week and into the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Cottonwood Fire started Monday and grew rapidly in dry fuels, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The blaze, which was being driven by wind and exhibiting long-range spotting, was zero percent contained as of Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=00396d9b-0631-5d9b-a0c9-b6d8be1b7aff&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=00396d9b-0631-5d9b-a0c9-b6d8be1b7aff&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=00396d9b-0631-5d9b-a0c9-b6d8be1b7aff&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=00396d9b-0631-5d9b-a0c9-b6d8be1b7aff&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" width=\"1431\" height=\"935\" alt=\"The Cottonwood Fire on Wednesday in Utah. (Courtesy of National Interagency Fire Center)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The Cottonwood Fire on Wednesday in Utah. (Courtesy of National Interagency Fire Center)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Smoke from the fire had been visible in Grand Junction for a couple of days, Aleksa said. It was so thick that it is reducing the daily high temperature by a few degrees in some areas, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe smoke kind of acts as a blanket \u2013 like cloud cover preventing the sun from penetrating through and really getting your full heating or mixing that can occur with full sun,\u201d Aleksa said.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air-quality health advisory for 18 Colorado counties, including San Juan, Dolores, Montezuma and La Plata.<\/p>\n<p>The advisory recommended people remain indoors if the smoke becomes thick, especially those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young and older adults. If visibility is less than 5 miles, smoke has reached levels that is considered unhealthy, according to the CDPHE.<\/p>\n<p>The advisory was in effect until 9 a.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsider limiting outdoor activity when moderate to heavy smoke is present,\u201d the advisory said. \u201c\u2026 Smoke levels could increase or decrease rapidly at times during the advisory period due to the very unstable atmospheric conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em id=\"emphasis-ccbd1da0524e54e0bca0509d8dc68733\"><a href=\"mailto:shane@durangoherald.com\">shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-social-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1bGIutWo5fn3bWErmzkt6Zvjz6aAn4YM&amp;ehbc=2E312F\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>61,000-acre Cottonwood Fire started Monday northeast of Cedar City<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1820,28,6419,414,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-134542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-headlines","tag-tj-trueanthem","tag-weather","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134542"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134652,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134542\/revisions\/134652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134542"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=134542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}