June 19, 2009
Ozone Code Orange in California and Southeast
Today clouds covered most of the US but sunny skies in California and South of US permitted ozone levels to reach up to unhealthy (to sensitive groups) levels. Just for the record,Atlanta, GA was declared an Action Day today.
Now in terms of PM2.5 concentration, AIRNow AQI map (top, left) shows a band of moderate levels all the way from Florida up to the Midwest around the Great Lakes and in the East (MD, PA, VA). AQI in California ranged from Moderate to Unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Zooming in California we see the AQI current conditions overlaid on MODIS Terra true color image on the top image on the right. And zooming in the Southeast we can see some hazy area over South/North Carolina (bottom, left) where MODIS Terra AOD map shows higher values (bottom,right).
HMS map today showed some smoke in Central Canada stretching down to Montana and North Dakota and some fires in the border Mississippi/Arkansas/Missouri/Kentucky/Tennessee.
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