July 29, 2009
Smoke over Oregon, Washington and Idaho, “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in Oregon
According to the SSD fire team at NOAA, a rather large area of moderately dense smoke was seen over the Pacific North West drifting southeast through the eastern portions of Washington into northeastern Oregon and west central Idaho. This smoke is likely due to numerous fires burning over the southern portion of British Columbia. Today’s AQUA RGB image (below, left) clearly shows smoke over Oregon, a significant part of Washington and Idaho.
The TERRA AOD map shows strong light extinction over the Atlantic offshore from New Hampshire but this could be due to cloud contamination.
In addition, the National Interagency Fire Center reports four new large fires: one each in California, Utah, Texas, and Colorado.
The EPA AIRNow’s PM2.5 map shows a significant portion of the country under “moderate” air conditions. The Ozone levels (below, right) are, at the most, “unhealthy” for sensitive groups in Oregon and “moderate” in California, Arizona and Washington.
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