DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1605Z August 18, 2021
SMOKE: Eastern Canada/Western and North Central Atlantic Ocean... Smoke transport from widespread wildfire activity over parts of the Western and Northwestern U.S. as well as fire activity in Southern Canada including Southern Ontario has resulted in large regions of moderate to thick density smoke. Smoke was observed over a large region of Eastern Canada including most of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, the Southern Labrador Sea, as well as east of Newfoundland over parts of the Western Atlantic Ocean. Light to moderate density smoke was observed as well over parts of North Central and Western Atlantic Ocean this morning. North and Central U.S./Southern Central Canada... Smoke transport from widespread wildfire activity over parts of the Western and Northwestern U.S. has resulted in a broad region of moderate to thick density smoke observed over most of the Northern and Central U.S. including the Northern Central, Central, and South Central Plains as well as parts of the Central and Southern Rockies including Colorado and New Mexico. Smoke from wildfire activity in Southern British Columbia and the Western U.S. has resulted in thick density smoke being observed over a large region of South Central and South Eastern Canada including Southern Saskatchewan, most of Manitoba, most of Ontario, and into Northern and Central Quebec this morning. Western, Northwestern, and Southwestern U.S./Pacific Ocean... Thick density smoke from the Dixie wildfire complex as well as from other large complex fires in Northern and Central California as well as West Central Oregon, Southern Washington, and the Northwestern U.S. has resulted in a broad region of thick density smoke. Thick smoke was observed over most of Northern and Central California including San Francisco, as well as over parts of Washington, Oregon, most of Nevada, Southern and Central Idaho, most of Montana, and over the Northern and Central Rockies. Light to moderate density smoke was also observed over parts of the Southwest U.S including Northern and Central New Mexico and most of Arizona. Light to moderate density smoke was also observed over Southern California including San Diego. Light to moderate density smoke was observed over most of the Western U.S. as well as offshore from California and the Northwestern U.S. over the Pacific Ocean this morning. Western Gulf of Mexico/South Texas... A region of light to moderate density smoke likely attributed from offshore drilling platforms in the Bay of Campeche was observed over parts of coastal South Texas and parts of the Western Gulf of Mexico this morning. DUST: Eastern Caribbean/Central and Eastern Tropical Atlantic... A large region of thick Saharan dust was observed over the Eastern and Central Tropical Atlantic Ocean. Light density Saharan dust was also observed over the Eastern Caribbean including the Lesser Antilles with most of the thick density Saharan dust observed to the northeast of this region in this morning’s GOES visible satellite imagery. Sambucci 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