DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z October 14, 2020
SMOKE:
Southwestern and Southern U.S./Eastern Pacific/Northern Mexico/Gulf
of Mexico…
A west-east elongated leftover batch of mainly thin density smoke still
attributed to the wildfires in the Western U.S. was seen stretching
from California and the Southwestern U.S. eastward over the southern
half of Texas and along the immediate Gulf Coast and the northern
half of the Gulf of Mexico. The thinner density smoke also was present
over northern Mexico and off the southern California coast over the far
eastern Pacific. Leftover patches of moderate to locally thicker density
smoke linked to recent emissions from the Creek Fire and SQF Complex in
east central California were visible across southern and eastern Nevada,
southern Utah, and northern and central Arizona. New thick density smoke
from the Creek and SQF Complex fires was present over east central and
central California with some also spreading over the border into western
Nevada. Farther to the southeast, the Cow Canyon Fire in east central
Arizona and west central New Mexico was producing thick smoke which
moved generally to the east.
Middle Mississippi Valley….
Seasonal/agricultural fires in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern
Missouri were responsible for numerous mainly thin density smoke plumes
which merged into a somewhat larger area of smoke which moved off to
the northeast toward southern Illinois and western Kentucky.
North Dakota/Minnesota/South Central Canada…
Numerous seasonal/agricultural fires in northern and eastern North
Dakota, northwestern Minnesota and the southern portions of Saskatchewan
and Manitoba resulted in a handful of thin density smoke plumes which
moved quickly to the east. Cloudiness spreading over the area during
the afternoon likely prevented additional detection of smoke.
Eastern Canada/Canadian Maritimes/Labrador Sea…
The large leftover and detached area of thin density smoke linked to the
wildfires in the Western U.S. shifted a bit more to the east and northeast
over eastern Canada, the Canadian Maritimes, and the Labrador Sea.
DUST:
Washington…
A couple of swaths of blowing dust were visible late in the afternoon
emanating from sources east of the Cascades in central Washington and
spreading to the east and northeast.
Eastern Atlantic…
Saharan dust was again confined to the eastern Atlantic off the west
coast of Africa.
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