DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z June 16, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean… Numerous large wildfires scattered across portions of the southern half of Canada from northern British Columbia and the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories eastward over the southern tier of Canadian provinces to Quebec continued to result in a very large area of moderate to thick density smoke which covered parts of southern and central Canada. The southern part of the moderate to thick area of smoke also extended to the south over some of the northwestern U.S. and a sizable portion of the eastern half of the U.S. Thinner density smoke from these fires covered a sizable part of the Atlantic reaching as far east as Europe. Across the south central United States, it is likely that the Canadian wildfire smoke merged with smoke spreading to the north from the ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity occurring in Mexico and Central America. Cloud cover over the southeastern U.S. prevented smoke detection in satellite imagery. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central United States/Western Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Northwest Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Northwest Central America and Southern Mexico… An area of thin to moderate density smoke from the ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America could be seen over much of Mexico and northwestern Central America, the western Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean south of northwest Central America and southwest Mexico. Within this larger area of thinner density smoke were areas of moderate density smoke primarily over southern and eastern Mexico as well as a separate one over south central Texas. Also, it is likely that the smoke from the fires in Mexico and Central America is merging with smoke from the Canadian wildfires somewhere over the south central U.S. Some aerosols from industrial activities in Mexico and Central America may also be present with the smoke over this large 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