U.S. Air Quality

Code Orange and Yellow throughout Texas and California.

Many of the wild fires throughout the nation have simmered down at this point in the year. The first image shows the NOAA HMS regions where there is still some fire activity, with lessened plumes. There are still some lingering fires in southern Texas and Mexico that are causing some elevated AOD near El, Paso, TX, as shown in the second image.

There have also been many code oranges and code yellows issued for the areas surrounding Houston, TX. The first image below shows this, courtesy EPA AIRNOW, from an increase in ozone. The next image shows the code orange and yellow for most of California. Specifically, near Sacramento, there has been a code red forecasted for tomorrow.

Posted by John Sullivan at September 20, 2011 4:03 PM