DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z October 16, 2020

SMOKE:
Northeast US, Southeast US, Gulf of Mexico, Southeast Canada and western
Atlantic Ocean….
A large area of light smoke from the ongoing fires over the western
United States was seen from southeastern Canada extending through the
Northeastern United States, Southeastern United States and into the Gulf
of Mexico.

Western Missouri, Kansas, northern Oklahoma and Colorado….
The ongoing wildfires over northern Colorado were producing an area
of smoke that was extending from western Missouri, Kansas, northern
Oklahoma and into eastern Colorado.  The highest density smoke in this
region was near the ongoing fires and over northeastern Colorado.

California….
An area of moderate to high density smoke from the wildfires over
central and southern California was seen over south central California
and extending offshore into the Pacific Ocean.

DUST:
Tropical Atlantic Ocean and Southwest Atlantic Ocean….
An area of Saharan Dust was seen over portions of the Tropical Atlantic
Ocean just east of the eastern Caribbean Islands and then extending
northwest to the north of the Caribbean Islands into portions of the
southwest Atlantic Ocean.

Hanna

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.