DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z June 16, 2020
SMOKE:
Southwestern/Central/Southeastern U.S./South Central Canada…
The huge mass of thin density smoke attributed to a number of wildfires
which have been burning for days now in the Southwestern U.S. covered
much of the Central and Southeastern U.S. and northern Gulf of Mexico
and extended up into south central Canada especially across Manitoba and
the western part of Ontario. Additional fires scattered across portions
of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, eastern Colorado, and the middle to lower
Mississippi Valley region were contributing as well to the large mass
of smoke. Closer to the actual wildfires in the Southwest, significant
smoke plumes of moderate to thick density continued to spread to the
northeast from the Mangum Fire in north central Arizona, the Bush Fire
in south central Arizona, the Bighorn Fire in southeastern Arizona,
the Bringham Fire in east central Arizona, and the East Canyon Fire in
southwestern Colorado.
Great Lakes Region/Ohio Valley Region…
An aerosol which may be leftover thin density smoke was visible stretching
from lower Michigan to the south and southwest over northwestern Ohio,
Indiana, eastern Illinois, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee. This
possible leftover smoke was tracked yesterday moving to the south from
Canada and may be associated with long range transport from the fire
activity in northwestern Canada and Alaska or possibly even Asia.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Cloudiness began to increase over portions of Alaska which lessened
the ability to detect smoke from wildfires in northwestern Canada and
portions of Alaska. Earlier in the day, moderately dense to thick smoke
could be seen spreading to the west from the wildfires burning in the
north central Yukon in northwestern Canada with smoke extending into
eastern and northeastern Alaska. Moderately dense smoke was also noted
spreading to the north and gradually thinning in density from a couple
of wildfire complexes in southwestern Alaska.
Mexico…
Seasonal fires in western and southern Mexico resulted in areas of mainly
thin density smoke which impacted portions of those regions as well as
the nearby Pacific to the southwest and south of Mexico.
JS
Earlier This Morning...
BLOWING DUST:
Tropical Atlantic Ocean…
A new loading of Saharan Dust was moving off the African coast and into
the central Tropical Atlantic, about as far east as 40W longitude. The
leading edge of the dust plume was moving off toward the west.
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