Tuesday, September 29, 2020

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0410z September 29, 2020

SMOKE:
California/Nevada/Arizona/New Mexico/Northwestern Mexico...
Major wildfires throughout central and northern California continue
to produce thick smoke.  Thick smoke blanketed northeastern California
and areas to the west over the Pacific Ocean.  Thick smoke was also
observed emanating from the Creek and SQF Complex fires further south
(central California) and moving west.  Moderate density smoke was
observed further out into the Pacific, while light density smoke had
moved as far north as Victoria Island and as far south as the southern
Mexican Coast (offshore of Guerrero).

Ohio Valley/Great Lakes into the North Atlantic...
Remnant light density smoke from western wildfires was seen traveling
northeastward over the Great Lakes, then east across southern Quebec,
the Maritime Provinces, and the open North Atlantic Ocean.  This will
continue to move around the northern periphery of a large upper-level
ridge over the eastern and central Atlantic.

Western Gulf of Mexico...
An area of remnant smoke, presumably from the western CONUS wildfire
activity, along with additional smoke from gas flaring in the Bay of
Campeche and minor fire activity in eastern Mexico, was present over
much of the western Gulf of Mexico.  The smoke was slowly moving north
into a cold front, which was then pushing the smoke back south as well
as dragging the northern fringes of the smoke area up to the
east-northeast.


DUST:
Atlantic...
An area of light to moderate density Saharan dust covers a large part
of the eastern tropical and subtropical Atlantic.

Konon


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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.