Siberian Smoke Reaches the Pacific Northwest

Huge fires have been burning in Siberia, and with Russian personnel pulled away for criminal activities in Ukraine, the infernos are spreading rapidly.

The smoke was evident in the visible satellite imagery on Sunday around noon (look for the subtle haziness over the coastal waters right off the West Coast).  This is from the NASA MODIS satellite.


The MODIS satellite can determine where it is seeing particles associated with smoke/dust, as illustrated by an image at the same time.


Some folks reported seeing an orange/reddish moon due to the smoke, as shown by this image from the National Weather Service in Seattle on Sunday.



The smoky air moving off northeast Asia was evident five days ago (see below)


And then was moved across the Pacific by the jet stream and pushed north and south by weather systems:


Fortunately, the smoke has stayed aloft and air quality of the Northwest remains good (green circles in the map below from AIRNOW)



April is a big month for smoke or dust to move from Asia to the Northwest.   The jet stream is still reasonably strong and either dust storms in the Gobi desert or fires in Siberia can supply the particles that can move rapidly across the Pacific.  




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