DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 31, 2020
SMOKE:
Western and Central U.S./South Central Canada…
A large area of smoke primarily from the ongoing wildfires in California
with some contribution from wildfires in Oregon, Idaho, western Montana,
and southeastern British Columbia was visible this afternoon and early
evening stretching from northern and central California eastward over the
Central Rockies before fanning out over the Central U.S. In addition,
some of the thin to moderately dense smoke was seen moving to the west
and southwest off the coast of northern and central California. Within
this large area of smoke was a region of thicker smoke which covered
much of northern and central California, northern and central Nevada,
northern Utah, northwestern Colorado, and southern Wyoming. Farther to
the north, a number of individual thicker smoke plumes were visible with
the wildfires burning in Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and southeastern
British Columbia.
DUST:
Northern Baja/Far Southern California…
A rather dense swath of blowing dust originated from a source in northern
Baja and moved to the north nearly reaching the border with southern
California prior to sunset.
JS
Earlier This Morning...
Eastern United States and Atlantic Ocean...
A small region of light density smoke was observed over parts of North and
South Carolina this morning. A large region of moderate to heavy density
smoke likely attributed from smoke transport from Western U.S. wildfire
activity was observed well offshore out over the Central Atlantic Ocean
to the northeast of Bermuda.
SAHARAN DUST:
Atlantic Ocean/Central America/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean Sea...
A large region of moderate to heavy density Saharan dust was observed
over the tropical and subtropical Eastern/Central Atlantic Ocean. A large
region of light to moderate density Saharan dust was observed over most of
the Caribbean Sea mainly south of Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola. Saharan
dust was observed over Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, parts of Central
America, and over the Yucatan Peninsula. The large regions of Saharan
dust are mainly progressing westward in satellite imagery.
Sambucci
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