U.S. Air Quality

Scatered Moderate PM2.5; Blowing dust in Southeast Texas

Moderate PM2.5 air quality was recorded in southern California, Iowa, southeast Texas, Louisiana, and scattered across the southeast (top left). Today's overpass of the MODIS Terra satellite recored slightly elevated AOD throughout southeast Texas, however it's difficult to detect due to cloud contamination (top right). The HMS analysis team reported areas of remnant blowing dust across the same aforementioned region. The team mentioned that this area of dust may have originated in New Mexico and northern Mexico. The NOAA's Hydrological Prediction Center (HPC) national forecast shows a cold front sagging across southeast Texas today juxtaposed to the area of blowing dust and likely contributing to strong wind gust across the region (bottom left). This same frontal boundary is responsible for the severe storms that fired up across the southeast this afternoon bring damaging winds and large hail (bottom right).