DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1615Z September 18, 2020
SMOKE:
U.S./Central-Southern Canada/Northern Mexico/Eastern Pacific…
Smoke from wildfires in western U.S. continue to cover the majority of the
Conterminous U.S. west of the Appalachian Mountains, extending further to
the north into central-southern Canada, to the south over northern Mexico
and to the west over the eastern Pacific. Areas of heavier density smoke
can be found over Oregon, Washington, central-southern British Columbia,
southern Alberta, Montana, eastern Wyoming, southwestern South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. Areas
of moderate density smoke extend outward from the heavy density smoke
for approximately 200 miles, whereas light smoke covers most of the
southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. A second large plume which got
detached from the main plume above as tropical storm Sally moved up the
eastern U.S. is seen traveling eastward across the northern Atlantic.
DUST:
An area of thin density Saharan dust was visible over the central
Caribbean Sea southwest of Hispaniola.
WS
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