DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 14, 2021
SMOKE: Alaska/Canada/Northern CONUS/Greenland/North Atlantic… An expansive layer of varying density smoke blankets much of northern North America from Alaska to Greenland and Newfoundland. Smoke from Siberian wildfire activity is to blame for smoke thin to moderate smoke moving from the eastern end of Russia across the Bering Strait across central Alaska and into the Yukon Territory. Wildfire activity across British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest continues to produce thick smoke, which is moving across western Canada into northern Canada. From there, the smoke reaches Baffin Island before being dragged southwestward into northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, where persistent wildfire activity is also producing thick smoke and adds to the remnant smoke layer. From this activity, the smoke advects over the Great Lakes, where some spreads south and southwest across the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys as well as across the Great Plains. A small area of light remnant smoke from previous days was observed over the Desert Southwest as well. The main stream then continues across Ontario and into Quebec, rounding the large upper-level trough over Hudson Bay and then the upper-level ridge over southern Quebec. The smoke then moves over Greenland and Newfoundland and converges near a frontal system across the North Atlantic. DUST: Central America/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean and Sargasso Seas… Light to moderate Saharan Dust was observed in a layer extending from the Eastern Caribbean Sea to just off the North Carolina coast. The thickest dust was seen over Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and southeastern Florida. The layer extends eastward into Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula as well, possibly into the eastern Bay of Campeche. 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