U.S. Air Quality

Smoke is still apparent over the U.S.

Smoke from fires in Canada, obvious in Washington and Oregon, still covers the Northwest. Skies are very cloudy over the Northern Central U.S. and East Coast, which makes it difficult to visualize any smoke/haze from space (UW MODIS Direct; Aqua MODIS, left image). IDEA provides a map of the AOD; it is elevated where there is smoke (right image). Air quality conditions are primarily good to moderate according to EPA AIRNow (bottom image). Thus, smoke is likely above the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and surface air quality is probably not being impacted by the smoke. Today’s analysis by the HMS team suggests that as the day progressed the Alaskan/Canadian smoke seen in the west moved east ahead of a cold front.