DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 17, 2021
SMOKE:
Canada/U.S./North Atlantic/Pacific off the coast of California...
The very large mass of varying density smoke attributed to ongoing very
significant wildfires occurring in central and southwestern Canada as
well as a few wildfires in the northwestern and western U.S. was seen this
morning roughly over the northern half of the U.S. with relatively smoke
free areas seen over the southwestern U.S., and the south central and
southeastern U.S. The thickest smoke was noted extending from wildfires
in northern and northeastern California to the northeast over portions
of Oregon, Idaho, and Montana where it joined with a thick mass of smoke
which stretched from wildfires in southern British Columbia. Thick smoke
then blanketed much of the southern half of Canada and the north central
U.S. The thicker smoke also appeared over east central and northeastern
Canada to the east and northeast of Hudson Bay. Farther to the east,
a batch of varying density smoke linked primarily to the Canadian
wildfires was seen over the Atlantic well south of Greenland. Finally,
a stripe of thinner density smoke was barely visible to the southwest of
the central California coast. Cloud cover off the west coast was making
smoke detection more difficult in satellite imagery.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Wildfire activity mainly in central and east central Alaska and far
northwestern Canada was responsible for an area of thin to moderate
density smoke which covered virtually of Alaska with the exception of far
western Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The smoke also spread to the
south over part of the Gulf of Alaska and to the east over the Yukon,
Northwest Territories, and Nunavut of northwestern and far northern
Canada. Thicker smoke was noted over central and southern Alaska and
extending into the Gulf of Alaska as well as to the south and southwest
of a wildfire in the central part of the Yukon.
DUST:
Southern and Eastern Texas/Eastern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean
Region...
Saharan dust was still visible over the far western Gulf of Mexico,
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 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