DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z September 17, 2020
SMOKE: Eastern Pacific/Much of Lower 48/Northwestern Mexico/Southern Canada/Atlantic off the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Canadian Maritimes… Smoke analysis remained primarily unchanged throughout the evening with the exception of the expansion of smoke into the Pacific as it wraps into weather systems off of the coast. Light smoke also expanded further north into Canada and Newfoundland. An additional area of light smoke and/or Saharan dust was visible spanning from portions of Cuba and the Florida peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico over the Yucatan peninsula and Bay of Campeche. As smoke analysis from earlier today stated, more exceptionally widespread smoke from the ongoing large wildfires in the Western U.S. continued to be visible across portions of the eastern Pacific, much of the lower 48 (with the exception of the region from eastern Texas to South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida), southern Canada, northwestern Mexico, and over the Atlantic off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, and the Canadian Maritimes. Thicker smoke covered an unusually large area including virtually all of the Western U.S. though it gradually thinned out to moderate density over portions of the Southwest. Thicker smoke also extended east over roughly the northern half of the lower 48, southwestern and southeastern Canada, to off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Canadian Maritimes where it became entrained into the circulation of the former tropical system named Paulette. DUST: Areas of Saharan dust were visible over the central and eastern subtropical portions of the Atlantic with some thinner density Saharan dust edging into the Caribbean Sea and surrounding islands. 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