U.S. Air Quality

Code Orange Ozone in California; Alaska Fires Continue

Air quality in the nation persisted today with much the same conditions as the past few days. PM2.5 conditions were mostly Code Green (Good), with regions of Code Yellow (Moderate) in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Gulf Coast, California, and the Pacific Northwest, as shown in the loop of PM2.5 AQI values (below on left, courtesy of AIRNow). Ozone reached Code Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) in California, as seen in the state loop of ozone AQI values (below on right, courtesy of AIRNow).

The Alaska fires continued today, and smoke plumes from the fires spread across much of western Canada and the northern United States, as identified by the NOAA HMS team (below on left). Smoke from the fires is discernable amongst cloud cover in today’s MODIS Terra true color image of Alaska (below on right, overlaid with HMS fire locations; image courtesy of NASA MODIS Rapid Response). PM2.5 air quality is currently in the Code Yellow range in Fairbanks, but an Air Quality Advisory has been issued for South-Central Alaska for the period 1:00 PM July 28 through 12:00 PM July 30. Conditions are expected to be Good to Moderate overall, with some areas of Unhealthy air quality due to smoke from the fires.