U.S. Air Quality

Smoke over the Deep South and what seems to be dust over the Gulf of California

According to the SSD fire team at NOAA and the HMS map (top, left), a thin to moderately dense smoke covered parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Southwest Georgia. The TERRA RGB image (top, right) shows in deed some haze from Georgia to Mississippi. That leads to strong AOD values over the area with the strongest records on the Georgian coast. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, firefighters contained a large fire in Alabama today.

What seems to be dust (according to it’s color) is clearly visible on the AQUA RGB image (bottom, left) over the Gulf of California. This leads to fairly strong AQUA AOD values over Baja California Sur.

PM2.5 levels (bottom, right) are, at the most, “unhealthy for sensitive groups” over California. Let’s note also “moderate” air conditions around the Gulf of Mexico, probably due to the smoke plume described earlier. The ozone levels reached “unhealthy” in southern Texas.