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June 11, 2023 - Wildfire Smoke Blankets East Coast
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Wildfire smoke from Canada has passed over the northeastern U.S. multiple times each summer in recent years, but it often goes unnoticed because it is relatively high in the atmosphere. That was not the case in June 2023. In the first week of the month, large amounts of smoke from fires in Quebec poured south into the eastern U.S. and degraded the quality of surface-level air that tens of millions of people breathe.
Winds typically move smoke from fires in Quebec toward the east and out to sea. But in June 2023, a persistent coastal low centered near Prince Edward Island instead steered smoke south into the United States. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows smoke sweeping over parts of the northeastern United States on June 7, 2023. The brown smoke, high in particulate matter, was particularly dense over New York, Pennsylvania, and northern New Jersey, where it obscured the land from view.
Smoke reaching the northeastern United States from Canada in 2023 from fires raging in western Canada has mostly arrived at fairly high altitudes. But since the fires in Quebec are relatively close to the northeast U.S., a much larger proportion of the smoke arrived in surface-level air. Around the time of the image, AirNow air quality monitors measured levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) soaring above 400 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Syracuse, New York—the highest on record for the city since routine measurements began in 1999.
At 9 a.m. Eastern Time on June 8, air quality monitors in parts of Pennsylvania recorded levels deemed “hazardous” (code maroon) on the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. The AQI for large cities such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. registered in the “very unhealthy” range (code purple). The prior day, a monitor near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, recorded a 24-hour average AQI of “hazardous,” which is thought to be extremely rare in the region.
As of the morning of June 10, 144 wildfires continued to burn in Quebec, with nearly 14,000 people in that province under evacuation orders. With more than 860 personnel fighting the blazes, with regular firefighting units enhanced with assistance from Canadian Armed Forces and international assistance, progress has been made and beating back some of the flames.
Shifting winds has also helped improve air quality in the United States. According to AirNow, as of June 10 smoke from wildfires in Western Canada and Quebec have both pushed south, covering a wide swath of the U.S. from Montana to Central Florida and far over the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Air Quality Index is much improved. Mechanicsburg, Indiana registered one of the worst AQIs on Saturday morning, at 149 or Code Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Except for a pocket near that town, most of the rest of the smoke-covered region is in the “Moderate” (Code Yellow) range. Parts of New York, including Long Island, where the AQI peaked at over 420 on June 7, registered an AQI of 6 (Code Green, “Good”) on June 10.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 6/7/2023
Resolutions:
1km (202.6 KB), 500m (627.8 KB), 250m (1.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Wildfire smoke from Canada has passed over the northeastern U.S. multiple times each summer in recent years, but it often goes unnoticed because it is relatively high in the atmosphere. That was not the case in June 2023. In the first week of the month, large amounts of smoke from fires in Quebec poured south into the eastern U.S. and degraded the quality of surface-level air that tens of millions of people breathe.
Winds typically move smoke from fires in Quebec toward the east and out to sea. But in June 2023, a persistent coastal low centered near Prince Edward Island instead steered smoke south into the United States. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows smoke sweeping over parts of the northeastern United States on June 7, 2023. The brown smoke, high in particulate matter, was particularly dense over New York, Pennsylvania, and northern New Jersey, where it obscured the land from view.
Smoke reaching the northeastern United States from Canada in 2023 from fires raging in western Canada has mostly arrived at fairly high altitudes. But since the fires in Quebec are relatively close to the northeast U.S., a much larger proportion of the smoke arrived in surface-level air. Around the time of the image, AirNow air quality monitors measured levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) soaring above 400 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Syracuse, New York—the highest on record for the city since routine measurements began in 1999.
At 9 a.m. Eastern Time on June 8, air quality monitors in parts of Pennsylvania recorded levels deemed “hazardous” (code maroon) on the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. The AQI for large cities such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. registered in the “very unhealthy” range (code purple). The prior day, a monitor near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, recorded a 24-hour average AQI of “hazardous,” which is thought to be extremely rare in the region.
As of the morning of June 10, 144 wildfires continued to burn in Quebec, with nearly 14,000 people in that province under evacuation orders. With more than 860 personnel fighting the blazes, with regular firefighting units enhanced with assistance from Canadian Armed Forces and international assistance, progress has been made and beating back some of the flames.
Shifting winds has also helped improve air quality in the United States. According to AirNow, as of June 10 smoke from wildfires in Western Canada and Quebec have both pushed south, covering a wide swath of the U.S. from Montana to Central Florida and far over the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Air Quality Index is much improved. Mechanicsburg, Indiana registered one of the worst AQIs on Saturday morning, at 149 or Code Orange (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Except for a pocket near that town, most of the rest of the smoke-covered region is in the “Moderate” (Code Yellow) range. Parts of New York, including Long Island, where the AQI peaked at over 420 on June 7, registered an AQI of 6 (Code Green, “Good”) on June 10.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 6/7/2023
Resolutions:
1km (202.6 KB), 500m (627.8 KB), 250m (1.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
