DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z October 13, 2020
SMOKE: Western Nevada/California… Thick smoke from the Creek Fire in east central California spread to the east during the afternoon passing over the border into western Nevada. A swath of thin to moderately dense smoke from this fire with some contribution from the SQF Complex farther to the south extended to the southwest passing over Santa Barbara and Pt Conception before spreading well of the coast of southern California. Farther to the north relatively small patches of smoke were seen with leftovers of the once very large August Complex and Red Salmon Complex. In addition, a cluster of agricultural fires in the Sacramento Valley were producing numerous mainly thin density smoke plumes which spread quickly to the southeast. Arizona/New Mexico… Moderate to thick density smoke from the Cow Canyon Fire near the border of east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico spread to the south and east during the afternoon. Central, South Central, and Southeastern U.S./Northeastern and Eastern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico… A large area of leftover primarily thin density smoke from the Western U.S. wildfire activity could be seen later this afternoon and early evening stretching from central and eastern Texas across the Lower and Middle Mississippi Valley and over a portion of the Southeastern U.S. The smoke also appeared over the central and northern Gulf of Mexico and also over the far western and southwestern Gulf of Mexico and inland over eastern and northeastern Mexico. In addition, a few agricultural fires over northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri produced thin density smoke plumes which moved off to the southeast. North Dakota/Minnesota/South Central Canada… More agricultural/seasonal fires were concentrated over northern and eastern North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, and the southern portions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Extensive cloud cover did move over this area later in the afternoon which significantly limited smoke detection in satellite imagery though a swath of thin density smoke was seen out ahead of the clouds over southeastern Manitoba, far northwestern Minnesota, and into southwestern Ontario. Central and Eastern Canada/Maine/Canadian Maritimes… A large batch of mainly thin density smoke leftover from the Western U.S. wildfires was seen over Hudson Bay, northern Ontario, a good part of Quebec, northern Maine, and extending over the Canadian Maritimes and off the coast over the far western Atlantic. JS 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