U.S. Air Quality

High ozone concentration in New York and Illinois

The air quality in the Midwest kept ranging from moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups again but today Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin were spared from higher concentrations of PM2.5 and stayed green. The polluted areas were farther west today including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and portions of West Virginia and Maryland (top, right). In the evening high concentrations of ozone (unhealthy levels) were recorded in Northern New York (top,left) from 6pm EST until 11pm (last data for today). Illinois also presented a peak of unhealthy levels for sensitive groups late in the evening which is odd. Ozone forming in a winter evening?

The air in California seemed to be cleaner with no apparent haze, presenting a greener valley on MODIS Terra RGB image today (bottom, right).

Moderate levels of PM2.5 were observed in California, Oregon, Montana and Northern Idaho and also in Florida where a few fires could be observed from satellite (bottom, left).