DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z July 1, 2020
SMOKE:
Four Corners into the Front Range…
Smoke of varying density was observed emanating from a handful of fires
throughout Arizona and New Mexico. These fires include the Wood Springs
2 (NE AZ), Bighorn (S AZ), and Vics Peak (WC NM). The fires producing
the thickest smoke were the Wood Springs 2 Fire, which had remnant
smoke making it as far north and east as Colorado’s Front Range, and
an unnamed fire in southwest New Mexico. Smoke from all fires in the
region was moving off toward the northeast, aside from whatever smoke
became trapped in some of the valleys among the Mogollon Mountains in
southwest New Mexico.
Northwest Territory...
Multiple plumes of light to moderate density smoke were observed emanating
from fires across mainly southern Northwest Territory with one or two
in the central portions of the territory. The smoke from these fires
was moving off toward the west. For many of these smoke plumes, cloud
cover moved overhead by the 15Z time frame and may hinder any further
smoke analysis from at least some of these fires.
Central Plains…
Scattered presumably agricultural fire activity throughout north-central
Oklahoma and south-central Kansas was producing light smoke moving to
the east-northeast.
Western and Southern Alaska into Western Yukon Territory…
Light to possibly moderate smoke was observed being transported from
Siberia into western and southern Alaska on the jet stream situated over
the area. The smoke was then being drawn northward over southeastern
Alaska and southwestern Yukon Territory by a trough located over northern
and east-central Alaska.
DUST:
Southeastern U.S/Subtropical Atlantic....
Saharan dust was still observed moving off southern Florida and over the
Bahamas into the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. A frontal system was drawing
some of this dust northeastward, the leading edge of which was at least
approaching (if not over) Bermuda. Broken cloud cover was inhibiting
exactly how far north and east the dust had traveled.
Western Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean Sea...
Another area of more dense Saharan dust was blanketing portions of Texas
and Louisiana, the western half of the Gulf of Mexico, far eastern Mexico,
the Yucatan Peninsula, and much of the Caribbean Sea. The region of dust
over the western Gulf of Mexico was moving north-northeast further into
Texas and Louisiana while much of the rest of the area of Saharan dust
was moving off toward the west-northwest.
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