Thursday, July 1, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 1, 2021

SMOKE:
Pacific Northwest…
Wildfires in northern California and Oregon were helping to produce
a light to moderate density layer of remnant smoke over northern
California, Oregon, eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and far western
Montana. Active moderate to, at times, thick emissions are still observed
from northern California and are moving mainly north (Lava and Tennant
Fires), with smoke from the Salt Fire moving west.

Canada…
A large area of moderate to dense smoke was observed stretching from
southern British Columbia north into the Northwest Territory and then
east across Nunavut and then becoming incorporated into an area of high
pressure over northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, and the eastern
portions of Hudson Bay. Most of the smoke was being absorbed by the high,
but some could be moving across Hudson Bay as well. The parent activity of
this smoke is a combination of wildfire activity across British Columbia
and the western CONUS, as well as possibly some minor contribution from
wildfire activity in Alaska and the Yukon. Active smoke plumes were
observed moving north-northwest across southern British Columbia.

Northern Plains/Southern Prairie Provinces…
A layer of varying density remnant smoke was seen extending from
southeastern Manitoba into northern Iowa and eastern Nebraska. The
parent activity for this smoke is wildfire activity across southeastern
Manitoba. Although the remnant smoke is moving south-southeast, the
active smoke plumes are extending mainly to the northwest.

Alaska/Yukon…
Persistent wildfire activity was observed emitting thick smoke. Smoke
from the wildfire in central Alaska was moving west, while smoke from
the wildfire in eastern Alaska was filling up a valley before moving
off toward the east-northeast.

DUST:
Tropical Atlantic/Eastern Caribbean…
A Saharan Air Layer was observed moving westward across the tropical
Atlantic and across the northern Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands
around the northern periphery of Tropical Storm Elsa.

Hosley


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.