U.S. Air Quality

Fires and Smoke continue to spread; Moderate PM2.5 in eastern US

Today, moderate PM2.5 levels were reported by HMS over different regions. The Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and the Mississippi Valley reached that level throughout the day (top left). Ozone levels over the country were mainly good with some scattered moderate readings mainly in the west.
On the other hand, HMS continues to report several fires and large plumes spread over the nation. Smoke from the Baldy-Whitewater fire in New Mexico was seen stretching from the southwest corner of the state eastward across north Texas, Oklahoma, northwest Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. The densest smoke was present over southern New Mexico and north Texas. Another extensive but separated area of smoke was present from the central Gulf of Mexico northward through the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and covered much of the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England. This smoke is from a combination of sources, including the Baldy-Whitewater fire, fires along the Mississippi River, and possibly also from fires in northwest Mexico (top right). In Canada an area of thin to moderately remnant dense smoke and possibly other aerosols was seen over northern Saskatchewan, north Alberta, northeast British Columbia, and southwestern Northwest Territories. This smoke is likely from two wildfires burning in northern Alberta.
Modis AQUA true color image shows an important fire in New Mexico as well as different smoke plumes over the region (middle left). According to the smoke reaching the Mid-Atlantic region; Lidar observations at UMBC detected smoke layers during the morning and part of the afternoon (middle right). The smoke vanished later in the afternoon.
Finally AOD retrievals from MODIS detected very high AOD levels over New Mexico/ Texas and Mid-Atlantic Region (bottom)