U.S. Air Quality

Smoke Plumes in California, Florida, and Moderate AQ in the Eastern U.s

OK, let's start with California today where the MODIS Aqua imagery (left) reveals moderately hazy conditions in the central valley. Also, notice the smoke plume in Tehama County (if I'm not mistaken) in northern Californa. Air quality in southern California and the central valley was mostly in the moderate range, but good in the northern part of the state. Now to the other coast, there was also some fire activity in Florida (right image) and there is some evidence of smoke just left of Lake Okeechobee. You can also see haze over the ocean, but the deeper gray area along the western Florida coast is sunglint (satellite artifact), not to be confused with aerosols !. According to the HMS analysis the haze over the ocean is transported smoke from Florida. In the Midatlantic, Southeast, southern Texas, and parts of the central U.S, PM2.5 monitors were primarily in the moderate range, with good air quality in the northwest and New England.