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