Monday, October 12, 2020

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

 


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.