DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0234Z July 18, 2021
SMOKE:
Canada/U.S./North Atlantic/Pacific off the coast of California...
The extremely large area of varying density smoke remained this evening
and attributed to ongoing extreamly significant wildfires occurring
in central and southwestern Canada as well as a few wildfires in the
northwestern and western U.S. Light to thick density smoke was seen over
roughly 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 the far northern U.S. from California to Minnesota and much
of the southern portion of Canada. 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 and Iceland.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Wildfire activity mainly in central and east central Alaska and far
northwestern Canada was responsible for an area of light to thick
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.
Eglin
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