DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 24, 2021
SMOKE:
CONUS/near-shore Pacific/south-central Canada/Maritime Canada/Atlantic...
Continued thick smoke production was observed emanating from the large
wildfires across the western CONUS. Much of the smoke is moving off
toward the east-northeast. Remnant smoke from this wildfire activity,
along with some contribution from fires across eastern Ontario and
northern Minnesota, extends at least as far east as the central North
Atlantic, with the layer blanketing the Intermountain West, northern
Plains, the Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic, and southeastern CONUS. The smoke
may be making it further into the northeastern Atlantic, but cloud cover
there does not allow this to be determined.
Northern Canada...
Thin density smoke was seen spreading to the east and across northern
parts of Canada from northern British Columbia and the Northwest
Territories to northern/central Ontario. The smoke may reach farther
east. Smoke was most likely sourced from fires burning in Siberia a few
days ago, but there could be some contribution from the western North
American wildfire activity.
DUST:
Atlantic/Caribbean…
A layer of Saharan Dust was seen across the western Atlantic moving
north-northeast ahead of the remnants of Henri. Some smoke may be
present as well, but the slightly more brown color noted in RGB imagery
suggests mainly Dust. Another area of lighter dust was observed across the
western Caribbean slowly moving westward. Some smoke may be present in
this layer as well, as it may have crept southward along a front draped
across Florida. A third, thicker area of Saharan Dust was seen across
the eastern tropical Atlantic, moving slowly northward and westward.
Hosley
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