DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z July 8, 2020
SMOKE:
Nevada…
Very thick smoke was emanating from the Numbers Fire located southeast of
Lake Tahoe in western Nevada. The thicker smoke moved to the northeast
during the afternoon reaching central Nevada while a surrounding larger
area of thinner density smoke extended farther to the northeast into
western and northern Utah.
New Mexico…
The Cub fire in southwestern New Mexico continues to produce smoke with
a batch of moderate to thick density smoke located near and to the east
and south of the fire. Thinner density smoke extended farther to the
south and east in New Mexico and also extended west of the fire into
eastern Arizona.
Central U.S…
Seasonal type fires in central Kansas and north central Oklahoma produced
numerous thin density smoke plumes which merged to for a larger patch of
thin density smoke over this area and stretching up into south central
Nebraska.
UNKNOWN AEROSOL:
Central Plains/Midwest/Great Lakes/Northeastern U.S…
A large area of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was observed
over the Central and North Central U.S. extending eastward over the
Great Lakes Region and the Ohio Valley to the Northeast. There is some
possibility that at least some of this aerosol may be composed of leftover
smoke from the fires in the Southwestern U.S. and possibly Saharan dust
though that cannot be confirmed from satellite imagery.
Area from Southern Oregon/Northern California to Southern Idaho/Western
Wyoming…
An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible stretching from
along the southwestern Oregon/northwestern California coast inland over
southern Oregon, northern California, northern Nevada, southern Idaho,
and western Wyoming. This aerosol may potentially be long range transport
of leftover smoke from wildfires burning in Siberia.
BLOWING DUST:
Southern California/Northern Baja…
A relatively small area of thin to locally moderate density blowing
dust was visible moving east across far southern California and far
northern Baja.
Northwestern Nevada…
A rather small localized patch of blowing dust was seen moving to the
east and northeast over a dry lake bed in northwestern Nevada.
Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America/Caribbean Sea/Tropical and Eastern
Atlantic…
A thin layer of Saharan dust was still seen extending across the Yucatan
and far eastern Mexico and out over much of the Gulf of Mexico. The dust
may also extend inland over the Gulf Coast region though cloud cover
prevented this information from satellite imagery. Another surge of
apparently more dense Saharan dust continues to emerge from North Africa
extending westward across the Atlantic and over the Leeward Islands,
Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola. This leading edge continues to move westward.
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