DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 27, 2019
SMOKE:
Alaska/Canada/Central and Eastern U.S...
Significant areas of cloudiness moved over portions of Alaska,
Northwestern and Central Canada which did hinder detection of some
of the wildfire activity which had been burning in these regions and
some of the smoke which had been quite extensive. It still appears as
though smoke likely covers northern and eastern Alaska with uncertainty
of smoke coverage over central, south central and western Alaska due
to cloudiness. Smoke also is likely over a sizable portion of Canada
as well but again, cloud cover is preventing definite detection in
satellite imagery in certain areas. In the more cloud free regions,
thin density smoke is noted over much of Alberta and Saskatchewan with
some contribution of smoke from the growing wildfire in southwestern
Oregon likely occurring in the southern parts of these provinces. Thin
to moderately dense smoke can also be seen spreading to the east across
central and northern Hudson Bay and over southern Quebec and off the Nova
Scotia coast. Leftover thin density smoke attributed to the wildfires
in Alaska and Northwestern and Central Canada covered virtually all
of the Central and Eastern U.S. though it was becoming more difficult
to discern between the leftover smoke and other aerosols/atmospheric
pollutants. The most significant smoke over the U.S. was believed to be
over portions of the Northeastern U.S.
Northern California/Oregon/Washington/Northern Idaho/Northwestern
Montana...
The Milepost 97 Fire in southern Douglas County of southwestern Oregon was
producing moderately dense to thick smoke which fanned out to the north
and to the south impacting Oregon from southwestern to north central and
northeastern Oregon and the eastern half of Washington. The southward
moving smoke spread over northwestern California. Thinner density smoke
from this fire and other fires in Washington was present over northern
Idaho, northwestern Montana, southeastern British Columbia, southern
Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan. In addition, thin density smoke
leftover from the fires in Alaska appeared to spread back inland over
northwestern Oregon, western Washington, and southern British Columbia.
Southern Montana/Northern Wyoming/Western South Dakota...
A stripe of thin density leftover smoke was seen moving to the east
across southern Montana, northern Wyoming, and western South Dakota. It
is not known exactly where the smoke originated though its trajectory
seems to point toward fires in central Idaho.
DUST:
Yucatan Peninsula/Bay of Campeche/Southern Gulf of Mexico...
A relatively small patch of Saharan dust was seen spreading slowly to
the west from the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche and the
southern Gulf of Mexico.
Puerto Rico/Caribbean/Hispaniola...
Another larger area of Saharan dust was visible spreading to the west over
the open Atlantic and across the Leeward and Windward Islands, the Greater
Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the central and 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/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