U.S. Air Quality

Fires in Florida and High Ozone in California

Air quality was in the good range across most of the U.S today, with the exception of central and northern Florida, and California which had a mix of good, moderate, and unhealthy air quality. High ozone lead to the code orange monitors in California (left image). Generally though, California seemed fairly haze free. This MODIS Aqua image (right) shows that fire activity continues in Florida. Notice the smoke plume originating west of lake Ockechobee and blowing over the lake, then east of the lake and all the way to the Florida coast. It is just north of the fire plume near Ockechobee a couple days ago. Seems the smoke plume is not affecting air quality at the location of the monitor in West Palm Beach though. Either the plume did not quite make it there, or is above the boundary layer. Another smoke plume can be seen southwest of Miami, where we have also noted smoke over the last several days.

We haven't looked at the OMI NO2 in a while. NO2 was high over the LA area and also over the central US. The red area over the central U.S is likely a power plant or urban area, but I cannot tell for sure which without the state boundaries. The NOAA HMS analysis also reports smoke in the central US and around the great lakes, which may be contributing.