A thin veil of smoke drifted south from wildfires in British Columbia to settle over much of Washington State on July 28, 2004. The densely populated Puget Sound region, the grey strip of cities including Seattle and Tacoma that runs from north to south along the black finger of the Puget Sound, does not appear to be seriously impacted. The Environmental Protection Agency rated the air quality as “moderate” on July 28, one rating down from “good” for many areas in Washington, though communities in eastern Washington warned the elderly and young children to stay indoors. Smoke began to move over the area on Monday, July 26, when winds blew smoke out of the northwest. The pattern was expected to hold for much of the week.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image on July 28, 2004, at 2:30 p.m., U.S. Pacific time. The above image is at MODIS’ maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel, but is available in multiple resolutions.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
