DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0106Z August 16, 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 over the majority of the United States and
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…
A generally thin to modest density area of smoke likely associated
primarily with wildfires burning in Siberia could be seen over the Bering
Sea and the smoke spreads 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.
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