DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1930Z August 21, 2017
SMOKE: Canada... Satellite imagery indicated much of Canada was covered by thin smoke with the exception possibly being the northern portion of British Columbia, the Yukon, and the western part of the Northwest Territories. Within the thin smoke, a huge area of moderately dense to thick smoke blankets much of northern Canada generally from the northern half of Hudson Bay northward beyond the geostationary satellite field of view. Another swath of moderately dense to thick smoke extended east over east central Manitoba and central Ontario. Finally, another region of moderately dense smoke was located across far southern Ontario and southern Quebec. Most of the smoke across Canada was attributed to ongoing wildfire activity occurring over central and southwestern Canada though it is possible that some of the smoke from fires in the northwestern portion of the US may also be involved. Area Including Roughly the Northern Half of the US... A large region of thin density smoke was present over approximately the northern half of the US from Washington, Oregon, and the northern half of California eastward all the way to off the Northeast and Middle Atlantic coastal areas. Somewhat thicker smoke was embedded within the thin smoke stretching from the Great Lakes Region to northern New England. This huge mass of smoke was likely from wildfire activity over western Montana, central Idaho, Washington, central and southwestern Oregon, and northern and central California with some possible smaller contribution from the Canadian wildfires. Other areas of moderately dense to thick smoke were visible over Oregon and northwestern California and offshore of northern California with localized thicker smoke also seen near the wildfires and the nearby valleys in western Montana and central Idaho. DUST: Puerto Rico/Hispaniola... An area of possible Saharan dust was seen over the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the eastern Caribbean. 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: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov