DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 5, 2020
SMOKE:
Western U.S./South Central U.S./Southeastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico…
A large area of thin density smoke attributed to wildfires burning in
the Western and Southwestern U.S. was visible this morning stretching
from California and Oregon eastward across the central and southern
Rockies and southeastward from there over the South Central U.S., a
portion of the Southeastern U.S., and the northern and central Gulf
of Mexico. Moderately dense smoke within this region stretched from
the Apple Fire in southern California northward over southeastern and
eastern Nevada (including Las Vegas), northwestern Arizona, and Utah,
then eastward from there over Colorado, southwestern Kansas, western
Oklahoma, far northern Texas, and far northeastern New Mexico. Thicker
smoke was noted emanating from the Pine Gulch Fire in western Colorado
and extending across central and southeastern Colorado. A smaller patch
of thicker smoke was visible near and east of the Apple Fire in southern
California. Farther to the northwest, thicker smoke was seen near the
Red Salmon and Six Rivers Fires in northwestern California with thinner
density smoke extending to the north over western Oregon nearly reaching
Portland. A north-south elongated separate ribbon of moderate density
smoke likely from the Apple Fire was noted across much of central Arizona,
including Phoenix, and extending to the south into northwestern Mexico.
Central and Eastern Canada/Great Lakes Region…
A huge mass of thin to moderate density remnant smoke from the wildfires
in Siberia was visible over much of Central, South Central, and Eastern
Canada with the southern edge of the thinner density smoke grazing the
northern portion of the Great Lakes region from northeastern Minnesota
and northern Wisconsin eastward to just north of Toronto and just west
of Ottawa in southeastern Canada.
DUST:
Caribbean/Western Atlantic…
Relatively thin density Saharan dust was visible this morning over Puerto
Rico, Hispaniola, and the eastern Caribbean with a narrow axis extending
to the northeast over the south central subtropical Atlantic. Farther
to the northwest, a north-south elongated swath was seen over the far
western Atlantic off the east coast of the U.S.
Eastern Atlantic...Another area of Saharan dust was noted along and off
the west coast of Africa stretching well to the west over the subtropical
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