DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0151Z September 16, 2020
SMOKE:
Due to the absolutely expansive coverage of smoke throughout the U.S,
the pattern remains mostly unchanged from earlier analysis below with
just a slight expansion of medium density smoke in the Pacific Ocean as
it wraps into a weather system north of Hawaii. Heavy smoke continued
to blanket almost the entirety of the United States, southern portions of
the Canadian border and northern portions of the Mexican border while also
extending hundreds of miles into both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
DUST:
Saharan dust was observed blowing to the southwest across the Caribbean
nearing the Yucatan Peninsula and across the central Atlantic.
EARLIER TODAY...
SMOKE:
Eastern Pacific/Lower 48/Southern Canada/Northwestern Mexico/Atlantic
East of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S…
The ongoing large wildfires burning in the Western U.S. was responsible
for a continuing extremely big area of smoke which covers portions of the
eastern Pacific and much of the lower 48 with the exception of the far
Southern and Southeastern U.S. from central and southern Texas eastward
to Georgia and Florida. Also, a small sliver of western Washington may be
relatively smoke free. The huge mass of smoke also covers southern Canada
and offshore of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. and east of the
Canadian Maritimes, along with northwestern Mexico. Thick smoke covered
an unusually large region stretching from off the Pacific Northwest coast
and off the coast of California and Baja eastward and inland over much
of the Western U.S. with the thicker smoke also appearing over much of
the northern half of the U.S. and southern Canada.
DUST:
Atlantic…
Areas of Saharan dust were visible over portions of the central, south
central, and eastern Atlantic.
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