DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z September 19, 2020
SMOKE:
U.S./Central-Southern Canada/Northern Mexico/Eastern Pacific…
A layer of thin to very dense smoke from wildfires across the western
CONUS continue to blanket the majority of the CONUS west of the Great
Lakes and southern Appalachian Mountains. The layer extends from the
western CONUS south and southwest into the Pacific Ocean (with the
majority thin remnant smoke), while also extending north-northwest,
north, and north-northeast into the Alaskan panhandle, British Columbia,
and Alberta before shifting southeast. From here, the thick smoke extends
across the vast majority of the Great Plains and into the Ozarks, lower
MS Valley, and the Tennessee Valley. From here, broken cloud cover
partially obscures the analysis of smoke, but there is a signal of a
thin band extending across the mid-Atlantic states and far southern
New England into the Atlantic Ocean and Maritime Canada. From here,
the smoke is becoming entrained into three different cyclones:
Around the western periphery of Hurricane Teddy
The extratropical cyclone that used to be Hurricane Paulette now north
of the Azores
Another extratropical cyclone over southern Greenland
Colorado and Wyoming’s Front Range…
A couple fires across north-central Colorado (Middle Fork) and
southeastern Wyoming (Mullen) were observed emitting thick smoke this
afternoon an evening, with the Mullen Fire producing PyroCBs this
afternoon. The smoke from these fires was moving due west and could
be contributing some to the large area of smoke enveloping much of the
CONUS described above.
Southern California/northern Baja California…
Wildfire activity extending from Los Padres National Forest north of Lo
Angeles into northern Baja California was observed producing moderate
to thick density smoke this afternoon and evening. By far the most
prolific smoke producer was the Lake Fire north of Los Angeles, with
PyroCB production and dense smoke extending northeast into southern
Nevada. The Bobcat and Snow Fires northeast and east of los Angeles,
respectively, were producing moderate to thick smoke that was also
moving northeast. Smoke emanating from wildfire activity in northern
Baja California was moving in multiple directions.
DUST:
Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic…
Saharan dust was observed extending from the west African Coast west out
to near Tropical Storm Wilfred then west-northwest into a band leading
into Hurricane Teddy a few hundred miles northeast of the Leeward Islands.
Hosley
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