DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z September 9, 2020
SMOKE:
Huge area from the Eastern Pacific to the Atlantic south of Greenland…
An enormous mass of smoke from the ongoing prolific wildfires burning
in the Western U.S. could be seen from off the West Coast inland over
much of the Western U.S. west of the Rockies though much of Montana,
northwestern Wyoming, and eastern Idaho are relatively smoke free. Some
thinner density smoke extended eastward over the North Central U.S. and
over southeastern Canada but cloud cover limited additional information
on the extent and density of the smoke in this region. The smoke then
stretched farther to the east over the Canadian Maritimes and the
Atlantic south of Greenland where it appeared to become moderate in
density outside of the cloud cover. Some of the smoke from the western
wildfires also appeared to be over the Northeastern U.S. and down over
the Ohio and Tennessee Valley regions as well as the Middle and Lower
Mississippi Valley, portions of the Southeast, and the northern Gulf
of Mexico. Embedded patches of moderate density smoke stretched from
Indiana and Ohio southward to the central Gulf Coast. Over the Western
U.S., thicker smoke was present over western Oregon, much of California,
northwestern Mexico, the southern portions of Arizona and New Mexico,
and far western Texas. The thicker smoke also spread well to the west
and offshore over the eastern Pacific. Finally, thicker smoke was visible
near wildfires burning in Washington and northern and central Idaho with
some of the smoke being trapped in valley regions.
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