DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1704Z August 4, 2021
SMOKE:
North America…
An expansive area of varying density smoke was observed blanketing much of
North America, from the Beaufort Sea and Alaska to the Pacific Northwest,
Canada, the Great Lakes, the southeastern CONUS, and the northwestern
Atlantic ocean. One area of smoke extends from the Beaufort Sea north
of the Yukon toward the southeast across the Northwest Territory and
Nunavut into northern Hudson Bay and into a cyclone in the eastern
Canadian Archipelago. This area of smoke is likely cross-polar transport
of smoke from wildfires throughout Russia. Another, larger expanse
of smoke extends from wildfire activity in northern California (where
PyroCBs are observed from the Dixie, Monument, McFarland, and Antelope
fires) to out over the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West. Then
the persistent wildfire activity in southern British Columbia adds
further smoke to the layer, which then extends north into Alberta and
then east across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where some is being drawn
toward the cyclone over the Canadian Archipelago ahead of the associated
front. Wildfire activity across northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba is
also contributing to this portion of the layer. Wildfire activity across
the rest of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as activity across western
Ontario is then adding to the smoke moving over from BC and Alberta, from
where the smoke layer moves south and southeast across the Great Plains,
where the layer bifurcates into a thicker band across the Great Lakes,
St. Lawrence River Valley, and into Maritime Canada...and into a more
moderate layer that extends into the southeastern CONUS, the Gulf Coast,
and off the mid-Atlantic Coast into the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
SMOKE:
Canada/U.S…
The huge expanse of varying density smoke 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 most of the U.S. with the exception of the Southeast
and a portion of the Southwest. 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 northern and central/eastern 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 and off the coast Of California over portions of the Pacific.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada…
Wildfires scattered across eastern Alaska, the Yukon, and portions of
the Northwest Territories in northwestern Canada were responsible for
a broad area of light to moderate density smoke which covers 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.
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