Summit County is about to get relief from the smoky skies with chances of showers every day starting Wednesday, Sept. 1, through Labor Day.

While Tuesday, Aug. 31, was hot and dry with wildfire smoke blowing in from western fires, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Entrekin said there is a solid chance for showers and thunderstorms to roll in Wednesday afternoon with chances of showers continuing into next week.

“It looks like after (Wednesday) we’re going to probably just see kind of your typical afternoon, evening showers and thunderstorms right through this weekend,” Entrekin said.

The best chances for precipitation are Wednesday and Friday, Sept. 3, Entrekin said, as models show moisture levels increasing on those days.

As for accumulation, Entrekin said the storms will be hit or miss, maybe bringing a quarter of an inch at a time. By the weekend, he said Frisco could see a quarter of an inch to half an inch of total rainfall.

“But of course, you could get all of that in one storm,” Entrekin said.

Entrekin said it’s unlikely that the storms will bring heavy amounts of rainfall, and no flash flood watches or warnings are expected to be issued for the area. He noted that there will be stronger threats for flash flooding further west: A flash flood watch for Wednesday has been placed on the Vail area.

The rain is expected to clear some of the smoke out of the area, Entrekin said, and temperatures will cool slightly. The expected high Tuesday was 79 degrees, but according to the National Weather Service’s Frisco forecast, temperatures aren’t expected to get above 72 degrees through the reminder of the workweek. However, temperatures will heat up a bit over the weekend, with a high of 75 expected Sunday, Sept. 5, and Monday, Sept. 6.

“Higher elevations may be cooling down into the 60s,” Entrekin said.

The Dillon weather station recorded a total of 2.49 inches of precipitation in August, which is over half an inch more rainfall than what is typically seen in the month. The normal amount of rainfall seen at the Dillon weather station in August is 1.91 inches, which is based on historical averages.

This August marks the greatest amount of total rainfall in the past five years. In August 2016, 3.2 inches of rain was recorded. This is also the first year since 2017 that the total August rainfall has surpassed 2 inches.

Despite the above average rainfall, drought conditions haven’t changed much this month. While extreme drought has receded since the beginning of the month, most of Summit County remains classified as experiencing drought conditions according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s drought scale, which ranges from abnormally dry to exceptional drought.

While the easternmost portion of Summit County is not experiencing drought, drought conditions move from abnormally dry in the central portion of the county to extreme drought in the north-westernmost part of the county.