Saturday, September 23, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0015Z September 24, 2023

SMOKE:
Canada..
Extremely high wildfire activity was observed again this afternoon across
northern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, resulting in a very
large and thick smoke plume spreading from northeastern British Columbia,
through south-central Northwest Territories, into northern Nunavut, and
over a wide portion of the Hudson Bay. Moderate-density smoke could also
be seen stretching across northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba,
with lighter smoke extending further eastward and reaching Newfoundland
and the northwestern Atlantic.

Mississippi Valley...
Widespread agricultural burning was observed along the Mississippi
Valley leading to a pocket of moderate smoke along eastern
Arkansas. Light-density smoke extended over southeastern Missouri and
southern Arkansas. Remnant light smoke from previous day burning in this
areas was also seen over southeastern Louisiana and over the central
Gulf of Mexico.

Northwestern California and southwestern Oregon…
A few wildfires in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon were
producing moderate- to heavy-density smoke plumes which were dispersing
towards the northeast over central-northeastern Oregon and southeastern
Washington.

DUST:
Oregon...
Blowing dust was observed off the dry lakebed of Summer Lake in southern
Oregon. The dust plume was dispersing towards the northeast for about
50 miles.

WS


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.