Sunday, June 23, 2019

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 24, 2019

SMOKE:
Much of Canada/Northeastern United States/Atlantic off the Northeast
U.S. Coast/Labrador Sea/Greenland....
The very large area of smoke was still visible late this afternoon and
early this evening stretching from a portion of the Yukon and Northwest
Territories eastward over Nunavut and Hudson Bay. From there the smoke
spreads more to the east and southeast over portions of eastern and
southeastern Ontario, Quebec, and a good portion of the Northeastern
U.S. and the northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The smoke also
moved well offshore of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Region where it
became involved in a low pressure circulation located to the east of
Newfoundland. In fact, a swath of rather thick smoke appears to have
wrapped completely around the low pressure and was visible across
southern Greenland and the Labrador Sea spreading back inland to the
southwest over eastern Quebec. Much farther to the west, a portion of the
thinner density smoke appears to have spread to the south and southeast
over central Alberta and central and southern Saskatchewan around a low
pressure system located over western Manitoba. Significant cloudiness
though over a sizable portion of central and western Canada limited
smoke detection in satellite imagery. Much of the above mentioned smoke
was primarily due to recent wildfire activity over western Ontario,
central and eastern Manitoba, and northern Alberta.

Southwest U.S./Central and Southern Plains...
Wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico were responsible for a region of
smoke which covered parts of Arizona and New Mexico with the thinner
density smoke spreading to the east across western Texas to southern
Oklahoma. Cloudiness farther to the north and east over the Plains
limited additional information on the extent of the smoke.  Plumes of
thicker smoke were seen near and to the east of the Woodbury Fire in
central Arizona and the Pine Lodge Fire in central New Mexico.

Alaska...Wildfires were detected in satellite imagery scattered across
portions of Alaska though cloudiness hindered both additional fire and
smoke detection from satellite imagery. A patch of thicker smoke was
seen relatively close to the wildfire burning in the Kenai Peninsula in
far south central Alaska. Otherwise, smoke detection was limited.

Mexico/Pacific Ocean off of Southern Mexico...
Thin density smoke from continued fire activity over portions of Mexico
was present across a good portion of north central, west central, and
southwestern Mexico as well as off the coast of southern Mexico. Patches
of moderately dense to locally thick smoke were located closer to some
of the fires in Mexico.


DUST:
Caribbean Region/Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Eastern Texas/Southern
Louisiana....A very large area of Saharan Dust stretched from just north
and west of Puerto Rico westward across Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and
much of the Caribbean and over the Yucatan Peninsula and virtually all
of the Gulf of Mexico. The dust also appeared to spread far enough to the
north and west reaching inland over southern and eastern Texas, southern
Louisiana, and possibly as far east as the far western Florida Panhandle.

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/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

 


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.