Texas Smoke April 18-26, 2011

• Satellite Sequence - Gulf of Mexico Smoke 18th-27th
• Satellite Sequence - Texas True Color 18th-26th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 26th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 25th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 24th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 23rd
• Satellite Animation - Texas 22nd
• Satellite Animation - Texas 21st
• Satellite Animation - Texas 20th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 19th
• Satellite Animation - Texas 18th

Smoke from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America returned to South, Central, and North Central Texas on Monday April 18th and increased in this area on Tuesday April 19th, as smoke from wildfires also continued in parts of West Texas. Smoke from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America continued mainly in South and Central Texas and over to the Houston area on Wednesday the 20th and in South, Central, and North Central Texas on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the 21st through the 23rd. The smoke was confined mainly to South and Central Texas on Sunday the 24th and spread back into North Central Texas and the Houston area on the 25th. On Tuesday the 26th, smoke from Mexico and Central America continued over most of South, Southeast, and Central Texas and strong winds enhanced wildfires and caused blowing dust in parts of West Texas.

On Tuesday April 26th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 27.0 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) at Houston Clinton CAMS 403, 26.1 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, 24.8 µg/m3 at Corpus Christi National Seashore CAMS 314, 24.4 µg/m3 at Brownsville CAMS 80, 23.3 µg/m3 at San Antonio Palo Alto CAMS 676, 23.2 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, and 23.0 at Eagle Pass CAMS 319, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most of the monitoring sites in South, Southeast, and Central Texas. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near a few large wildfires in West Texas and blowing dust caused "Moderate" PM2.5 levels at Odessa and "Unhealthy" PM10 levels in the El Paso area.

On Monday April 25th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 23.1 µg/m3 at San Antonio Palo Alto CAMS 676, 22.8 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, 21.3 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, 19.6 µg/m3 at Brownsville CAMS 80, 18.0 µg/m3 at Arlington Airport CAMS 61, 17.7 µg/m3 at Corpus Christi National Seashore CAMS 314, and 17.6 µg/m3 at Houston Clinton CAMS 403, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most of the monitoring sites in South, Central, North Central Texas, as well as the Houston area. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near a few large wildfires in West Texas and with blowing dust in the southern Panhandle.

On Sunday April 24th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 25.8 µg/m3 at Eagle Pass CAMS 319, 17.3 µg/m3 at San Antonio Old Highway 90 CAMS 677, 16.9 µg/m3 at Corpus Christi West CAMS 4, 16.8 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, and 16.5 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most of the monitoring sites in South and Central Texas. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near a few large wildfires in West Texas.

On Saturday April 23rd, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 20.8 µg/m3 at Eagle Pass CAMS 319, 20.4 µg/m3 at Arlington Airport CAMS 61, 17.4 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, and 16.2 µg/m3 at San Antonio Northwest CAMS 23, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most of the monitoring sites in South, Central, and North Central Texas and as far west as Odessa. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near a few large wildfires in West Texas.

On Friday April 22nd, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 28.5 µg/m3 at Eagle Pass CAMS 319, 19.0 µg/m3 at Fort Worth Haws CAMS 310, 17.8 µg/m3 at San Antonio Northwest CAMS 23, and 17.5 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most of the monitoring sites in South, Central, and North Central Texas and as far west as Odessa and Wichita Falls. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near a few large wildfires in West Texas. Satellite images indicate that smoke from a large fire in the Davis Mountains caused increasing PM2.5 levels in the Odessa area in the late afternoon and early evening.

On Thursday April 21st, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 25.8 µg/m3 at San Antonio CAMS 23, 24.3 µg/m3 at Austin Northwest CAMS 3, 22.3 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, and 21.0 µg/m3 at Big Bend CAMS 316, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. On Thursday the 21st, PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at all of the monitoring sites in South, Central, at most of the sites in the Houston area, and as far north as the Italy CAMS 1044 site on the southeast side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near some of the large wildfires in West Texas, but did not impact any of the monitors in that area.

On Wednesday April 20th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 29.4 µg/m3 at Austin Audubon CAMS 38, 26.2 µg/m3 at San Antonio CAMS 23, 24.4 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, and 22.0 µg/m3 at Conroe CAMS 78, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. On Wednesday the 20th, PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at all of the monitoring sites in South, Central, at most of the sites in the Houston area, and as far north as the Italy CAMS 1044 site on the southeast side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near some of the large wildfires in West Texas, but did not impact any of the monitors in that area.

On Tuesday April 19th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 35.2 µg/m3 at Austin Audubon CAMS 38, 32.2 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, 30.1 µg/m3 at San Antonio CAMS 23, and 29.7 µg/m3 at Arlington CAMS 61, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. On Tuesday the 19th, PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at all of the monitoring sites in South, Central, and North Central Texas, and the Houston area. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near some of the large wildfires in West Texas, but did not impact any of the monitors in that area.

On Monday April 18th, the highest measured PM2.5 daily averages were 24.6 µg/m3 at Denton CAMS 56 and 24.0 µg/m3 at Mission CAMS 43, which rated as Level Yellow, Moderate, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. On Monday the 18th, PM2.5 in the "Moderate" range on the AQI was measured at most monitoring sites in South, Central, and North Central Texas. "Moderate" or possibly higher PM2.5 levels may have occurred locally near some of the large wildfires in West Texas, but did not impact any of the monitors in that area.