April 26, 2008
Haze in east, haze and smoke in the west
Yet another complicated air quality day. Let's start in the eastern U.S. A frontal system moving across the midwest pushed a dense haze mass into the northeast. This may be a combination of local emissions and the long-distance transported smoke and haze we have been following the last few days on the Blog. The haze was most visible in the afternoon MODIS Aqua image (left) and produced moderate to unhealthy fine particle concentrations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina (AIRNow data, right). In the morning, MODIS Terra showed considerable haze over Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
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In the western U.S., Washington and Oregon seemed to have a haze layer. I heard from a colleague from eastern Washington that the unseasonable cold temperaures there have resulted in farmers setting smudge pots to try and keep the fruit tree flowers from freezing, but the haze may also be tied to the transported pollution we have been following the last few days. Any comments from our Pacific Northwest readers on this would be welcome. More intense is the haze and dust visible off the coast of Baja Mexico, with considerable dust over the Sea of Cortez. There is some sunglint in the middle of the MODIS Aqua image (near the middle of Baja) that is confusing the view, but it was visible in the AOD image in Ana's post yesterday.
Here's the national view where you can see it all, including some smoke in the Gulf of Mexico, likely from fires in the region. Stay tuned to the Blog since who knows what will turn up tomorrow!
