Thursday, June 17, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0126Z June 18, 2021

SMOKE:
Oregon...
In central Oregon a light to moderate density smoke plume attributed to
wildfires was visible with the smoke spreading out in all directions.

Montana...
In southern Montana two light to moderate density smoke plumes attributed
to wildfires were observed moving east in direction.

Ontario...
In southern Montana two light to moderate density smoke plumes attributed
to wildfires were observed moving east in direction.

Much of the Lower 48/Southeastern Canada/Northern Mexico/Extreme western
Atlantic/Northern Gulf of Mexico/Eastern Pacific to the west of California
and Mexico…
An enormous area of thin density smoke covered much of the lower 48 in
the U.S. with the exception of the Northwestern U.S. and portions of the
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. The smoke also was present over eastern
and Ontario, western and southern Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes, the far
western Atlantic, there are embedded areas of moderately dense smoke. One
of these stretched from the Southwestern U.S. to the northeast across the
central and southern Rocky Mountain region to a portion of the Northern
and Central Plains, the Upper Mississippi Valley, and the far western
Great Lakes region down to Texas. The second moderately dense smoke area
extended from the wildfires in western Mexico to the west over the Gulf
of California and the southern half of Baja. Thicker patches of smoke were
seen closer to some of the wildfires in western Mexico, the Pinnacle Fire
in southeastern Arizona, the Johnson Fire in southwestern New Mexico,
and the Robertson Draw fire in far southern Montana. An area of heavy
density smoke from wildfires was visible over Arizona, New Mexico.

Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Several wildfires in central and east central Alaska and the central part
of the Yukon in northwestern Canada were responsible for an area of thin
to moderate density smoke which was seen over roughly the northeastern
quarter of Alaska and the northern half of the Yukon.

DUST:
Caribbean region/Bahamas/Southern Florida…
A very expansive area of Saharan dust covered much of the Caribbean region
including Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and possibly
southern Florida, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula
though cloudiness in these regions prevented dust detection. The dust
also extended well east of the islands all the way across the tropical
and subtropical Atlantic to the west coast of Africa.

Eglin

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.