DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 9, 2020
SMOKE: Western U.S… A leftover area of thin density smoke was visible moving to the northeast over northern Nevada, southern Idaho, southwestern Montana, and northwestern Wyoming. This smoke was likely mainly from the Numbers Fire in western Nevada southeast of Lake Tahoe though some contribution from the Meadow Valley Fire in southeastern Nevada is possible as well. A bit farther to the south, leftover thin density smoke over southeaster Nevada, much of Utah, and western Colorado was believed to be primarily from the Meadow Valley Fire. Another area of thin density smoke covered a good portion of New Mexico and extreme western Texas with thicker smoke seen over southwestern New Mexico near and to the southeast of the Cub Fire. The larger area of smoke over New Mexico is thought to be from the Cub Fire and the Vics Peak Fire which are both located in southwestern New Mexico. UNKNOWN AEROSOL… Area from Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Northeast… An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen this morning stretching from the Mid-Mississippi Valley region across the Ohio Valley to the Northeastern U.S. It is now known if any of this aerosol is composed of leftover smoke from the fires in the Southwestern U.S. or any residual Saharan dust. DUST… Gulf Coast Region/Gulf of Mexico… A patch of thin density Saharan dust was seen this morning over Louisiana and offshore across the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico to near the west coast of the Florida Peninsula. Farther to the east, a very large and thicker mass of Saharan dust was visible stretching from western Africa over the subtropical Atlantic and eventually over the eastern Caribbean including Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. 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