DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 13, 2022
SMOKE: U.S./Southwestern and South Central Canada… A large area of thin density smoke covered much of southwestern and south central Canada as well as portions of the western, central, and southeastern U.S. The smoke over the western and northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada was likely from a combination of the wildfires burning in the far western and northwestern part of the U.S. and British Columbia of southwestern Canada. The smoke over south central Canada, and the central and southeastern U.S. was also believed to be due to the wildfires in the far western and northwestern U.S. and British Columbia, though some smoke contribution from the recent wildfire activity in northwestern Canada may also be occurring in these areas. Patches of moderate to thick density smoke were located closer to the wildfires especially in northwestern California, west central Oregon, east central Idaho, western Montana, and southeastern British Columbia. Northern Canada… A number of wildfires scattered across the Northwest Territories were responsible for areas of moderate to thick density smoke which spread to the east and southeast over northern Canada with moderate density smoke extending as far east as southern Nunavut. Thinner density smoke reached across Hudson Bay to northwestern Quebec. Atlantic… A swath of leftover thin density smoke possibly from both the recent wildfire activity in northwestern Canada and the northwestern part of the U.S. was seen this morning stretching from off the coast of southeastern Canada to the east and out over the open Atlantic. DUST: Eastern Caribbean/Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic… The Saharan dust which had been visible for the past few days over Florida, the Bahamas, and along and off the southeast U.S. coast was no longer visible. Farther to the southeast, the leading edge of a large batch of Saharan dust was seen spreading slowly to the west over the far eastern Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. Thicker Saharan dust was present over the tropical and subtropical Atlantic well east of the Caribbean region. JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov