DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 15, 2021
SMOKE:
United States/Canada/Pacific off the west coast/Atlantic off the east
coast…
Numerous wildfires and some large wildfire complexes burning in
central and southern British Columbia of southwestern Canada, central
Saskatchewan and west central Manitoba of central Canada, and portions
of northern and central California, Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho,
and western Montana in the western U.S. were continuing to produce
significant quantities of smoke. A very large mass of dense smoke
attributed to these wildfires was visible stretching from the coastal
parts of Washington, Oregon, and northern and central California inland
to the east and northeast across the northern and central Rockies to the
north central U.S. The batch of thick smoke also covered a good portion
of southwestern and south central Canada with the eastern edge reaching
western Hudson Bay, along with western and southern Ontario. Patches of
moderate density smoke extended farther to the north and east in Canada
with moderate smoke seen as far east as central Quebec. Thinner density
smoke was noted extending from the southwestern to the central U.S., over
the Northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, and extending well off the coast
of the Mid-Atlantic region, the Northeast, and eastern Canada. Finally,
a long narrow stripe of mainly thin density smoke was visible extending
from off the coast of Oregon to the southwest pointed in the general
direction of Hawaii.
Alaska/Gulf of Alaska/Northwestern and North Central Canada…
Generally thin density smoke likely associated primarily with wildfires
burning in Siberia could be seen this morning over the Gulf of Alaska
with some of the smoke possibly spreading eastward and inland over
western British Columbia. The smoke also extended up over south central
and eastern Alaska and over a large portion of northwestern and north
central Canada where it likely eventually became mixed with smoke from
the wildfires in central and southwestern Canada and the western U.S.
DUST:
Eastern Caribbean…
The leading edge of rather thin density Saharan dust was seen spreading
slowly to the west nearing Puerto Rico and the far eastern Caribbean
region.
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