DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z July 17, 2020
SMOKE: Western California.. Moderate density smoke was observed emanating from the Mineral Fire along the western San Joaquin Valley. The most dense smoke from this fire was slowly drifting off toward the northwest into the Salinas River Valley Nevada and Utah… Remnant smoke from fire activity in the southwestern CONUS yesterday was observed lifting north across eastern Nevada and western Utah along the state border. Northern Plains into the Great Lakes… Remnant smoke from a combination of fire activity across the western CONUS and, perhaps, a small amount of transport from Siberia, was observed from southern Manitoba and North Dakota into southern Ontario, Michigan, and northwestern Ohio. This smoke was moving west around a trough over central Canada. Texas... Thin to moderate density remnant smoke was observed across north Texas this morning. This smoke is leftover from the fire activity across central Texas, which has begun to pick up this afternoon with a couple smoke plumes observed by 1500Z. The remnant smoke is moving northwest while the active smoke emissions are moving close to due west. SAHARAN DUST: Yucatan Peninsula/Bay of Campeche/western Gulf of Mexico/eastern Mexico/Texas… A thin to moderate density layer of Saharan dust was observed blanketing the area covering the Yucatan Peninsula, the Bay of Campeche, eastern Mexico, the western Gulf of Mexico, and southern Texas. This layer of dust was moving northwest to north-northwest into an area of disturbed weather off the Texas coast and ashore along the shores of the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz. 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