U.S. Air Quality

Smoke over Oregon and Montana / Very Unhealthy PM2.5 Levels in Oregon

The MODIS Terra image (below, left) shows the smoke from the Oregon fires, as well as smoke over the northeastern part of Oregon and Montana . The MODIS Terra AOD map (below right, IDEA) shows high AOD values over the same regions.

NOAA's Hazard Mapping System (HMS) reports smoke over regions mentioned above. HMS also reports smoke over Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, and central Canada.The MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program's large incident map reports the four fires in the southwestern part of Oregon, one in northwestern Oregon, three in western Montana, one in northwestern Wyoming and three in California here.

 

Code Purple (Very Unhealthy) PM2.5 levels (top left, courtesy of AIRNow) were reported in southwest Oregon today between 5:00pm and 6:00pm EDT (21:00 and 22:00 UTC) due to the fires in that region. Code Red (Unhealthy) and Code Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitve Groups) PM2.5 levels were also reported in the same region of Oregon throughout the day. The rest of the country reported mostly Code Green (Good) PM2.5 levels. Code Orange and Yellow Ozone levels were reported in much of California today. The rest of the Country reported Code Green Ozone levels. 

Posted by Jaime Compton at September 25, 2009 9:42 PM