DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z June 23, 2019
SMOKE:
Much of Canada/Great Lakes Region/Northeastern U.S./Mid-Atlantic Region...
A huge area of smoke of varying density from ongoing wildfires burning
primarily in western Ontario and eastern Manitoba in south central Canada
and northern Alberta in western Canada was affecting much of Canada
from northern British Columbia, the southeast Yukon, and the Northwest
Territories across central Canada and Hudson Bay to off the coast of
eastern Canada. An arm of this smoke also extended to the south and
southeast from eastern Ontario and Quebec across the Great Lakes Region
and the Northeastern U.S. and Mid-Atlantic Region to well off the East
Coast. The thickest smoke of moderate to thick density stretched from the
southeast part of the Northwest Territories and Northern Alberta eastward
over central Hudson Bay to Newfoundland. The other swath of thicker smoke
covered eastern Ontario, central and western Quebec, much of New England
with the exception of Maine, virtually all of New York, northeastern
Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and off the Northeast Coast.
Southwestern and Central U.S...
Thin to moderately dense smoke from wildfires burning in New Mexico and
Arizona was visible stretching from central and northeastern Arizona
across the northern two-thirds of New Mexico, northwestern Texas,
western Oklahoma, the eastern half of Colorado, western Kansas, and
southern Nebraska. A smaller area of thick smoke was located closer to
the Woodbury fire in central Arizona, and an additional small plume of
thick density smoke was observed in eastern New Mexico.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada...
Thin to moderately dense smoke from wildfires scattered across Alaska
was seen across much of the northern half of Alaska and extending to the
east over a portion of the Arctic Ocean, the Yukon, and the far northwest
part of the Northwest Territories. Cloud cover across the southern half
of Alaska limited smoke detection in satellite imagery though smoke is
likely present over some of this area considering the wildfire still
burning in the Kenai Peninsula.
Mexico/Southwestern Texas/Coastal Mexico...
Fires continue to burn along axis extending from northwestern Mexico
southeastward to southwestern Mexico which resulted in a broad region
of mainly thin-to-medium density smoke covering much of central and
northern Mexico likely extending up over a portion of southwestern
Texas. The smoke also extended to the south off the southern coast of
Mexico, as well as a large plume extending from the Bay of Campeche up
along the eastern coast into the Gulf of Mexico. Locally thicker smoke
was present closer to some of the fire activity, with larger regions of
medium density smoke present along the western coast of Mexico.
California...
Relatively small light or medium density smoke plumes were visible in
California associated with sporadic fires. Medium density smoke was
observed in northern California, moving WSW toward the coast, and an
additional plume was observed in central California, south of Monterey,
extending NE and SW off and off of the coast into the Pacific.
EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON...
SMOKE:
Western U.S...
A stripe of thin to moderately dense smoke likely from wildfire activity
in central and western Canada was seen spreading to the south and east
stretching from Idaho and eastern Oregon southward over Nevada and
eastward from there across southern and eastern Utah.
DUST:
Caribbean Region...
The Saharan dust layer which has been spreading to the west over the
past number of days now covers Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba,
and virtually all of the Caribbean with the leading edge pushing west
near the Yucatan Peninsula.
JL
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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg
GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/
KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire)
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke)
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO:
SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov