Friday, August 4, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 4, 2023

SMOKE:
United States, including Alaska, Canada, Atlantic Ocean and North
Pacific Ocean….
Wildfires over Alaska, western Canada, the Pacific Northwest of
U.S. continued to produce a very large area of smoke that extends from
Alaska through Yukon and Northwest Territories and over most of Canada
except for the far eastern half of the country. In the U.S. smoke was
seen over sections of northwest California, northern Oregon, most of
Washington state, northern/central sections of Montana, Idaho and through
parts of the Northern and Central Plains and then to the east coast and
into the Atlantic ocean and as far south as northern Florida and Gulf of
Mexico. Moderately dense to very dense smoke is seen from eastern Alaska,
through the territories and across most of northern British Columbia,
northern/central Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and western
Quebec before spreading south into Great Lakes region. This smoke is
mostly from the Alaska, northern Canada wildfires. Moderate to high
density smoke from wildfires in the Pacific northwest and parts of
southeast British Columbia was seen over central/eastern Washington,
southern British Columbia, northern/central sections of Idaho and Montana
and into southern/central Alberta and Saskatchewan. The smoke from both
sets of wildfires is combining in part of central Canada.

DUST:
Atlantic Ocean…
Moderate to high density Saharan dust was seen moving west off the west
Africa coast and extending west into the eastern and central Atlantic
ocean.

JK



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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.