U.S. Air Quality

Residual smoke in Northwestern Canada, haze over the Texas-Mexican border and across northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina

According to the SSD fire team and today’s HMS map (top, left), light to moderately dense residual smoke from the large fire in southwestern British Columbia continues to cover portions of northwestern Washington and offshore Vancouver Island. This leads to fairly strong AOD values over the area on today’s MODIS TERRA AOD map (top, right).
Another area showing high AOD values is the Texas-Mexican border. A mix of cloud and haze is clearly visible on the MODIS TERRA RGB image.
Finally, high AOD values are also seen over Northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. This is confirmed by the HMS map showing a smoke plume over the area. A closer look at the MODIS AQUA RGB image (bottom, left) shows, in deed, some haze (away from the sunglint).
The EPA AIRNOW PM2.5 map (bottom, right) shows a strong concentration of “moderate” air conditions over the eastern part of the US as well as in southern California. Air conditions were “unhealthy for sensitive groups” at the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
The ozone levels are, at the most, “moderate” in Illinois.