Wildfire smoke
2023 early-October Canadian wildfire-smoke episode
Daily PM2.5 peaked at 47.9 µg/m³ near North Port across 8 covered metros home to 17 million people. 1 metro recorded their worst day on record; 4 placed a top-ten day.
Counting the extra PM2.5 above each metro's typical day, this event handed the average affected resident ≈ 1.6 cigarettes. Across everyone living in the affected metros, that is the collective equivalent of ≈ 29 million cigarettes. An awareness illustration of outdoor exposure at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette (Berkeley Earth), counting only the event's ranked days; not a medical dose.
Episode peak
-- cigarettes
The smoke map's scale, replayed over this event: the surface interpolates between covered metros' daily records, framed to the affected region. Hover for a reading, click a metro to pin it to the card. Days a monitor did not report draw nothing.
What happened, in the record
Qualified supplied evidence supports wildfire smoke for this event. It is grouped with 3 other supplied events because the evidence identifies Canada as the shared origin and the affected intervals form one continuous 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-04 occurrence. Qualified supplied evidence supports wildfire smoke for this event. It is grouped with 3 other supplied events because the evidence identifies Canada as the shared origin and the affected intervals form one continuous 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-04 occurrence. Qualified supplied evidence supports wildfire smoke for this event. It is grouped with 3 other supplied events because the evidence identifies Canada as the shared origin and the affected intervals form one continuous 2023-10-01 through 2023-10-04 occurrence. Qualified supplied e
Sequence: Worcester (Oct 1) → Palm Bay (Oct 2) → Deltona (Oct 2) → North Port (Oct 3) → Miami (Oct 3) → Tampa (Oct 3) → Orlando (Oct 3) → Memphis (Oct 4)
Affected metros
| Metro | Peak PM2.5 | Cigarettes, whole event | Peak day | All-time standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL | 47.9 µg/m³ | 2.2 | Oct 3, 2023 | #3 of its top days |
| Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL | 47.1 µg/m³ | 3.2 | Oct 3, 2023 | Worst day on record |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 44.2 µg/m³ | 2.0 | Oct 3, 2023 | #17 of its top days |
| Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL | 42.6 µg/m³ | 4.6 | Oct 3, 2023 | #4 of its top days |
| Worcester, MA-CT | 40.5 µg/m³ | 1.8 | Oct 1, 2023 | #15 of its top days |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 40.4 µg/m³ | 1.8 | Oct 3, 2023 | #12 of its top days |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | 40.1 µg/m³ | 1.8 | Oct 4, 2023 | #24 of its top days |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 37.6 µg/m³ | 1.7 | Oct 3, 2023 | #10 of its top days |
"Cigarettes, whole event" totals a metro's ranked event days at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette: what a person outdoors there breathed across the event, as the illustration. "All-time standing" is where this episode's days sit in each metro's ranked record (worst-area measure, since 1999). Full local context is on each metro's Air Records page.
The evidence
EPA AQS monitor qualifier 10
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 19 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-01, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 8 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-02, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 168 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 48 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 24 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 24 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 71 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 312 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-03, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier IF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted informational qualifier (IF, Fire - Canadian.) on 24 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-04, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. An informational qualifier is an official submitting-agency flag, not a request for exclusion or an EPA-concurred determination.
- AQS PM2.5 qualifier RF — Fire - Canadian. EPA AQS carries an agency-submitted request-exclusion qualifier (RF, Fire - Canadian.) on 48 PM2.5 samples in the candidate CBSA on 2023-10-04, identifying wildfire smoke as affecting the samples. A request-exclusion qualifier is an official submitting-agency causal claim, but this endpoint does not establish EPA concurrence.
Agency and publisher pages 4
- Smoke Text Product: Tuesday, October 3, 2023 NOAA satellite analysis observed smoke from ongoing northwestern Canada wildfires inland over portions of Florida on October 3.
- Florida Sky Hazy From Canadian Wildfire Smoke Reporting described unhealthy Florida air and haze from Canadian wildfire smoke, including locations near Orlando and Venice.
- Hillsborough County Air Pollution Advisory October 3, 2023 The state-hosted advisory records elevated PM2.5 in Hillsborough County on October 3.
- Broward air quality is unhealthy; smoke from Canada fires Contemporaneous South Florida reporting attributed unhealthy Miami-Dade and Broward air to smoke from Canadian fires.
What remains uncertain
- Agency-submitted AQS qualifiers are causal flags but do not by themselves establish EPA concurrence.
Status and provenance
Research preview: this record carries research-only status and its boundaries, cause, and name may change as evidence review completes. Grouping policy common_sense_root_cause_grouping.v2. The cause label reflects the assembled evidence above, not an IAQng detection formula.