DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z Wednesday, September 9, 2020
SMOKE: Western U.S. into Central U.S… An extensive area of smoke originating primarily from wildfires in the western U.S (Washington/Oregon/California) dominates a majority of the country to the west of the Appalachian Mountains. Extremely dense smoke was observed emitting from fires in northern California, Oregon and Washington streaming westward off shore into the Pacific Ocean. The aforementioned heavy smoke extended from the Oregon coast south to the most northern portions of the Mexican border and encompassed much of California, western Oregon and edged into the borders of Nevada and Arizona. Widespread fire activity in the plains and Mississippi Valley was also producing scattered plumes of heavy density smoke that was partially obscured and interacting with a weather system to the west. Associated moderate density smoke extended further into the Pacific and also extended into southwestern Canada, western Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, northwestern Mexico and the Baja Peninsula. Additional areas of moderate density smoke that was either transported via weather systems or remnant from previous days’ activity was observed streaking from northern Mexico through Texas and into the central plains before the cloud cover obscured visibility. An additional wave of moderate density smoke was observed moving through the Mississippi Valley this evening after clearing the heavy cloud cover to the west. Widespread fire activity in the region may also be a contributing factor to the area of light to moderate density smoke in the area. Light density smoke edged its way across the country extending from western Canada, across the entire Pacific northwest, reaching far into the Pacific Ocean, encompassing northern Mexico, the four corners region and then continuing through Texas and the central plains, the Mississippi Valley and finally into the Appalachians. Smoke was also highly likely in the northern plains, but it was not visible due to extensive cloud cover obscuring visibility. DUST: Remnants of the notable blowing dust event in Washington were visible this afternoon, though coverage was much lighter comparatively. JL 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