Sunday, September 5, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z September 5, 2021

SMOKE:
Lower 48/Southern and Eastern Canada/Eastern Pacific off the U.S. West
Coast/Atlantic off the U.S. and Eastern Canada Coast/Northern Gulf
of Mexico...
The huge mass of smoke of varying density which continues to be attributed
to ongoing wildfires burning in the western U.S. and southern British
Columbia in southwestern Canada was again seen this morning extending
from just off the California and Oregon coast inland over a fairly good
portion of the U.S. lower 48, a swath of far southwestern and south
central Canada, eastern Canada, and out over portions of the western
and northern Atlantic off the U.S. east coast and off the east coast
of Canada. Within this large area of smoke were moderately dense to
thicker patches, with one of these stretching from far eastern Canada
across the Labrador Sea and southern Greenland and over the open northern
Atlantic. The second and more significant batch of thicker smoke covered
the region stretching from central and eastern Washington, Oregon,
and northern and central California eastward over the northern Rockies
to the Central U.S. Significant cloud cover over the Ohio Valley and
portions of the northeastern U.S. along with a sizable part of central
and eastern Canada prevented detection of smoke in satellite imagery
which may still be present in this region.

DUST:
Texas/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean Region...
Leftover mainly thin density Saharan dust was still visible over portions
of southeastern Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, and across the Florida Keys and
Florida Straits to the Bahamas though it is becoming less discernible in
satellite imagery and is likely mixed with thinner density smoke from the
western U.S. wildfires and other atmospheric aerosols/pollutants. Another
batch of Saharan dust which was seen over eastern Cuba, Hispaniola,
Puerto Rico, the central and eastern Caribbean region, and extending
over the open Atlantic on the periphery of Hurricane Larry.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.