U.S. Air Quality: Code Red Ozone in Texas and California; Smoke from New Mexico Forest Fire Spreads West

June 1, 2012

Code Red Ozone in Texas and California; Smoke from New Mexico Forest Fire Spreads West

Ozone levels (top left, courtesy AIRNow) reached Code Red (Unhealthy) in Texas and California today. Areas along the Central Valley and southern parts of California mainly experienced Code Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) ozone levels. PM2.5 levels (top right, courtesy AIRNow) in southern California reached Code Yellow (Moderate) levels. Much of Texas experienced Code Yellow ozone levels , while in Houston, Code Orange and Red ozone levels were reported.

The HMS image shows smoke from the wildfires moving in a clockwise direction down into Mexico and back up into Arizona. This is supported by the NOAA HYSPLIT forward trajectory model (left) which shows the clockwise movement of the smoke. The MODIS Terra AOD map (IDEA, right) reports high AOD levels as a result of the smoke. The smoke was also visible on today's MODIS TERRA true color image. Code Yellow ozone levels were reported in New Mexico and Arizona today. This is possibly due to the smoke from the wildfires.

Posted by Jaime Compton at June 1, 2012 11:56 PM

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