DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 4, 2020
SMOKE:
Southern Arizona/Southwestern New Mexico…
Although the extent of smoke production was lower than in previous days
and weeks, moderate to thick density smoke was observed being produced
by the Cub fire in southwestern New Mexico and the Bighorn fire in
southeastern Arizona. The smoke from these fires was generally moving
off toward the east or east-northeast.
Pacific Northwest/Northern Idaho/Northern Montana/Southwestern and South
Central Canada…
An area of leftover very thin density smoke attributed mainly to
wildfires burning in Siberia was more clearly seen this evening as the
sun angle was lowering. The area blanketed by this smoke layer extends
from offshore of northern California and the Pacific Northwest into
the Pacific Northwest into southeastern British Columbia, Alberta,
and northern Saskatchewan. The portion of this area off the northern
California coast was moving south while much of the rest of the area
was moving off toward the east-northeast or northeast.
Southwestern Alaska into the Gulf of Alaska…
Two areas of light to possibly moderate density remnant smoke from fire
activity in Siberia were observed moving east-southeast out into and
across the Gulf of Alaska. It was then moving more south-southeast as
it entered the eastern Gulf of Alaska.
UNKNOWN AEROSOL…
Great Lakes/Mid-Atlantic/Northeastern CONUS/Atlantic Ocean…
An unknown aerosol was clearly observed this afternoon and evening across
the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, southern New England, and the near-shore
Atlantic Ocean. This aerosol was fairly light and mildly scattered
in nature throughout the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. However,
the aerosol was much more concentrated in a nearly 600 mile wide ball
extending eastward from the Appalachians in Virginia and West Virginia
out over the Atlantic while also extending southward from about the New
York City area about 600 miles as well. A jet streak extending from the
northern portion of this ball of aerosol east-northeast just south of
Nova Scotia was dragging some of this aerosol with it.
DUST:
Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico/South Central U.S./Subtropical
Atlantic…
Satellite imagery this afternoon continued to show a huge area of Saharan
dust stretching from the southern Iberian peninsula to near the Equator
and from Africa across the subtropical Atlantic to about 49W. Then from
about 54W eastward across the Leeward and Windward Islands Puerto Rico,
Hispaniola, Jamaica, eastern Cuba, and into Central America, another
large area of fairly dense Saharan dust was observed. Another dense
area of Saharan dust was observed over Oklahoma, Texas (with a hole over
central Texas), and the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. This layer of dust
was visible across the rest of the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico
towards western Cuba and Florida, albeit at a thinner density.
Northwestern Nevada…
Some of the sandy basins across northwestern Nevada were producing
dust plumes today. Winds were transporting the dust eastward into
north-central Nevada.
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