DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0101Z June 24, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/U.S./Atlantic Ocean/Pacific Ocean off the West Coast of Canada and the U.S… The major wildfire outbreak across portions of Canada continues with extensive smoke blanketing much of Canada and extending to the south over roughly the western two-thirds of the U.S. and the far northeastern part of the U.S. The smoke also stretched way off the east coasts of Canada and the U.S. over the northern and central Atlantic reaching Europe. To the west, some of the thinner density smoke had spread to the west and south off the southwestern coast of Canada over the far eastern Pacific and then moved to the east and northeast from there and back inland over the western U.S. The thickest smoke was emanating from massive wildfires in central and southern Quebec and moving to the east over southeastern Canada and far northern Maine before curving to the southeast as it moved well off the coast over the Atlantic. Other areas of thick smoke attributed to the Quebec fires as well as large fires in south central Ontario spread to the south and southwest reaching some of the western Great Lakes region. Farther to the west, more moderate to thick smoke from fires in central and northeastern British Columbia, the southwest part of the Northwest Territories, and northern Alberta affected much of British Columbia and Alberta as well as the southern part of the Northwest Territories. A separate very narrow band of moderate density smoke was seen this morning extending from eastern Washington to the northeast over southern Canada to just south of Hudson Bay in northern Ontario. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern U.S./Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean South and Southwest of Southern Mexico and Northwestern Central America... Seasonal fires and a few wildfires continue to burn mainly in Mexico resulting in a large mass of thin to moderately dense smoke covering nearly all of Mexico, the southwestern and south central U.S., the western and northern Gulf of Mexico, northwestern Central America, and the Pacific Ocean extending well to the south and southwest of the southern coast of Mexico. The sizable area of moderate density smoke was present over much of Mexico and extending to the south and southwest of Mexico over the southern half of Baja and some of the Pacific Ocean south and southwest of the southern coast of Mexico. The moderately dense smoke also had moved north over central and southeastern New Mexico as well as western and southern Texas. Finally, it is likely that the smoke from Mexico merges with smoke from the Canadian fires somewhere over the south central and southeastern U.S. Some aerosols from industrial activities in Mexico and Central America may also be present with the smoke over this large region. DUST: Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean Sea… Very thin density Saharan dust appeared to over Puerto Rico and Hispaniola and may extend farther to the west but cloudiness prevented detection through satellite imagery. Eglin 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