DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z June 10, 2020
SMOKE:
Arizona/New Mexico...
About half a dozen wildfires throughout the desert southwest were observed
emitting varying density smoke. The most intense smoke was emanating
from two fires in southwestern New Mexico, while activity in Arizona
remained light to moderate. Much of the smoke had been moving west or
west-northwest early this morning, but a wind shift is now advecting
the smoke northward across much of the region.
Southern California/Northern Baja/near-shore Pacific Ocean...
Scattered intense fire activity was observed producing moderate to thick
smoke from the coastal ranges of southern California into the northern
half of Baja California. The smoke from the fires in northern Baja were
moving offshore then southward, while smoke further offshore was moving
west or west-northwest. Smoke from the fires in southern California was
moving southwest...but presumably remnant smoke that had lofted higher
in the atmosphere from both the northern Baja cluster and the southern
California cluster was observed moving north.
Central California…
A wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada was observed producing thick
smoke this morning. Much of the smoke from this fire was trapped along
the western slopes of the Sierras in the San Joaquin Valley. However,
some light remnant smoke, likely from an initial higher lofting of smoke
at the fire’s onset, was reaching the Pacific Ocean near the Monterrey
and San Luis Obispo county border.
Alaska...
A cluster of wildfires over the southwestern part of the state in the
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is responsible for what appears to
be a sizable area of remnant smoke that extends southeast into Bristol
Bay and then north-northeast into central Alaska along the periphery of
an upper-level low over Norton Sound. Cloud cover over the area west of
Bethel obscures the fire activity inhibiting analysis of smoke emanating
from that fire activity.
DUST:
Desert Southwest…
Although not certain, it does appear some thin dust may have been
lofted along with some of the smoke across Arizona and New Mexico. A
fairly large dust producing region resides just southeast of the area
of analyzed smoke in northwestern Chihuahua, so this is a fair assessment.
Hosley
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