DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 21, 2021
SMOKE: Canada/U.S...The huge expanse of smoke of varying density attributed to significant wildfire activity in central, south central, and southwestern Canada along with the northwestern and western U.S. was again visible covering nearly all of Canada and much of the U.S. with the exception of the Southeast, a portion of the Southwest, and the western portions of California, Oregon, and Washington. Thick smoke from fires in east central and northeastern California and south central Oregon spread to the northeast and merged with thick smoke produced by wildfires in central and eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana, and southern British Columbia. From there the thicker smoke extended to the east over south central Canada and the north central U.S. and then to the south and southeast over roughly the northern half of the country from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast. Smoke also extended well off the U.S. east coast across a significant portion of the Atlantic. Alaska/Northwestern Canada… Wildfires scattered across central and east central Alaska, the Yukon, and portions of the Northwest Territories in northwestern Canada were responsible for a broad area of varying density smoke which covers eastern Alaska and much of northwestern and north central Canada with the eastern and southern portions of the smoke likely mixing with smoke from the fires farther south and east in Canada. Thicker smoke in this region was noted particularly over eastern Alaska, the Yukon, and the western part of the Northwest Territories. Farther to the west, significant cloud cover over central and western Alaska prevented satellite detection of any smoke which might be present there. DUST: Caribbean/Atlantic... A thin to moderate batch of Saharan dust was observed moving westward across virtually the entire Caribbean region including Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. The western edge of the dust layer appeared to reach into northern Central America and possibly the Yucatan Peninsula with dust also seen over the eastern Bahamas. The dust extended well to the east all the way to the African coast with the dust becoming even thicker off the west coast of 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