Colorado Weather: Wildfire Smoke Should Thin A Bit As Wind Picks Up Saturday

DENVER (CBS4) - Happy Saturday! We're tracking a weather system to the northwest of Colorado today. Over the next 24 hours it will pass through Wyoming. It is close enough that we will feel it but unfortunately it will not bring any significant change to the state.

Central and eastern Colorado remain under an Air Quality Alert through this afternoon due to wildfire smoke. But you should notice less smoke in the air as we go through the weekend. That's because the wind speeds should pick up and it will shift direction.

West to southwest winds aloft and southerly winds at the surface today should help scour a lot of the smoke out of the air. But the wind will also mean elevated fire danger statewide. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the far eastern plains of Colorado through this afternoon and early evening.

Afternoon highs today will remain well above normal across Colorado with widespread 70s in the mountains and 80s across the lower elevations. Denver and some communities on the eastern plains will be very close to 90 degrees and we will see some low 90s near the Kansas state line.

Fall officially arrives in Colorado and the Northern Hemisphere this coming week but it will still be feeling like late summer with highs 10 to 15 degrees above normal at times.