After an unseasonably hot August weekend, Colorado’s mountain towns can expect a shift to rainy weather and cleaner air as monsoonal moisture overtakes the West.

Several Western Slope towns saw elevated temperatures compared to their typical August averages on Friday through Sunday, with most of the state running 10 degrees above normal, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist David Byers.

While some locations in Garfield, Eagle and Grand counties recorded record-high temperatures near 100 degrees, other higher-elevation mountain towns, like Vail, were able to escape from some of the more intense temperatures experienced by the lower valley floors.

Now, a nearing surge in monsoonal moisture is shaking up the forecast, which shows increasing chances of showers and thunderstorms across the Western Slope mountains and some relief from the weekend’s highs.

The new weather pattern is both good and bad news for wildfires in Colorado. Cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity could help to temporarily weaken fire danger. At the same time, thunderstorms could bring “hit or miss rainfall, lighting and gusty outflow winds” that make for challenging fire conditions, especially during dry thunderstorms where moisture will be limited, OpenSnow Meteorologist Alan Smith wrote in a Monday report.

“The rains will definitely put a damper on the fires, and the rains also tend to clear out the air,” Byers said. “But a risk that we’re concerned about is where there’s been a wildfire, the ground becomes hydrophobic. … those areas that are burned become critical threats for flash flooding.”

Monday and Tuesday are expected to bring only a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s and 90s for most Western Slope towns, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The chance for precipitation and thunderstorms is expected to pick up significantly on Wednesday, with estimates ranging from 40% in Glenwood Springs to 80% in Vail after noon. Cloudier skies could lead to a small relief from the warm temperatures, which should continue to drop through the weekend.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to increase on Thursday, with chances ranging from 60% in Glenwood to 90% in Vail and Aspen. The on-and-off precipitation is forecast to last through Saturday across most of the region.

Nights are also forecast to get cooler, transitioning from lows in the 60s and 50s on Monday night to lows in the 50s and 40s by the weekend.

While skies remain hazy across most of the state as of Monday, smoke is expected to decrease gradually throughout the week. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, upper-level winds are transporting the heaviest smoke to the north of Colorado, and the addition of afternoon showers should help clear out any lingering smoke across Western Colorado.

While parts of far west-central Colorado could be hit with heavier smoke from upwind fires over the next two days, impacts to the mountains should mostly be limited to Grand Junction, according to the Colorado Smoke Blog.