DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 16, 2021
SMOKE:
Canada/U.S./North Atlantic/Pacific off the coast of California/Baja...
The extremely large area of varying density smoke attributed mainly
to very significant wildfire activity occurring in portions of central
and western Canada and the western U.S. was again visible this morning
over a good portion of the U.S. with the exception of the far western
portions of California, Oregon, and Washington. Other relatively smoke
free areas in satellite imagery included a portion of the southwestern
U.S. and parts of the south central and southeastern U.S. Smoke also
was seen over southwestern, central, and eastern Canada though a portion
of Quebec appeared to be relatively smoke free though cloud cover there
may also have limited additional information on the smoke in satellite
imagery. Within this huge mass of smoke were moderately dense to thick
smoke which appeared over a broad region stretching from the interior
portion of the northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada eastward
over the northern tier of the U.S. and over much of central Canada. A
separate patch of moderately dense smoke extended from the Mid-Atlantic
region over the Northeast and offshore over the nearby far western
Atlantic. Farther to the east, a detached mass of moderate to thick
density smoke was located over the Atlantic to the south and southeast
of Greenland. Additionally, some of the thinner density smoke also was
barely visible off the west coast of southern California and Baja.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Wildfire activity mainly in central Alaska was responsible for an area of
thin to moderate density smoke which covered much of central and southern
Alaska. A separate stripe of thinner density smoke likely also from the
Alaska fires and possibly from recent fires in the Yukon of northwestern
Canada was seen across the central Yukon and over the central part of
the Northwest Territories.
DUST:
Southern and Eastern Texas/Eastern Mexico/Northern Central America/Gulf
of Mexico/Caribbean Region...
Saharan dust was visible this morning over the western Gulf of Mexico,
northern Central America, southeastern and eastern Mexico, and extending
up into southern and southeastern Texas. A much larger and thicker area
of Saharan dust could be seen east of Puerto Rico and extending all the
way to western Africa.
JS
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