Friday, July 23, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0125Z July 24, 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. Thicker 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 portion of the country through
the eastern part of the U.S. Smoke also extended well off the U.S. east
coast across a significant portion of the Atlantic south of Greenland.

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 light 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. Farther to the west, significant cloud
cover over central and western Alaska precluded further smoke analysis.

DUST:
Gulf of Mexico/Southern Mexico/Central America/Caribbean Sea/Atlantic...
A broad region of light to moderate density Saharan dust was observed
over most of the Eastern and Central Tropical Atlantic to as far west
over the Eastern Caribbean Sea including over Puerto Rico and the Lesser
Antilles. Saharan dust was also observed over the Western Gulf of Mexico
as well as over Southern Texas, coastal Eastern/Southern Mexico including
the Yucatan Peninsula, parts of Northern Central America, and over the
Bay of Campeche.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.