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