DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 21, 2020
SMOKE:
Western U.S./Far Eastern Pacific off the Oregon and California Coast…
A large mass of mainly thin density smoke with a few embedded patches of
thicker smoke was seen this morning over southern Oregon, northern and
central California, the northern half of Nevada, southern Idaho, much of
Utah, southern Wyoming, and western and northern Colorado. Cloud cover
across eastern Nevada, Arizona, and southern Utah prevented additional
information on the extent and density of any possible leftover smoke
in those areas. The smoke was attributed to active wildfires burning
in portions of northern and central California, Nevada, Utah, and
Arizona. The most significant smoke production appears to be from a pair
of wildfires burning in Lassen County of northeastern California with
moderately dense to locally thick smoke noted over northern California and
southern Oregon with some of the thicker smoke grazing far northwestern
Nevada and far southwestern Idaho. Another patch of moderately dense
smoke was visible over eastern Utah and northwestern Colorado.
UNKNOWN AEROSOL:
South Central and Southeastern U.S./Mid-Atlantic Region…
An aerosol continues to be seen under the large ridge of high pressure
stretching from portions of the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley
to the Mid-Atlantic Region and offshore from there to the east over
the Atlantic. It is unknown if any leftover smoke from smaller fires
within this region or from the larger wildfires burning in the Western
U.S. compose a portion of this aerosol.
Central Canada…
An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible over the
southeast part of the Northwest Territories, central and eastern Nunavut,
Hudson Bay, far northeastern Manitoba, and northern Ontario. It is not
known if any residual smoke from the ongoing large wildfires in Siberia
is present in this region.
DUST:
Again this morning, the only visible Saharan dust was near the coast
of West Africa and extending offshore to the west over the far eastern
Atlantic.
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