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