Saturday, July 3, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1820Z July 3, 2021

SMOKE:
Majority of U.S./Southern Canada...
Numerous large wildfires in northern California, British Columbia and
central Canada are emitting large quantities of smoke across those
regions, while also impacting downwind areas to the east-southeast of
those sources. Additional remnant smoke from previous days’ fires
also added to the overwhelming volume of smoke coverage.  As a result,
a majority of the United States was covered in light density smoke that
spanned from central California along the Pacific coast states into
Canada. Smoke engulfed the entirety of Southern Canadian territories and
northern U.S. border states before plunging south with the jet-stream
into the Plains and southeastern U.S. The only regions exempt from the
smoke coverage included the dessert southwest, Texas, south Florida and
most of New England. Light smoke also extended off of the Atlantic coasts
of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida due north of tropical storm Elsa.

Moderate density smoke also draped to the south from east-central Canadian
wildfires and extended through the mid-western states of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky
and Tennessee.  The plume also extended over southeastern states and was
encroaching on the mid-Atlantic. Moderate density smoke was also visible
in central Canada and western Canada near the Washington-Canada border.

Pockets of heavy smoke were also visible due to these Canadian wildfires.
Heavy smoke was observed moving east of fires in southwestern
Canada. Additional heavy smoke was moving east and south of fires in
south-central Canada and extended into Minnesota, Wisconsin and the
upper peninsula of Michigan. A final swath of heavy smoke was observed
dipping into the southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Mississippi and South Carolina.


Levine

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.