DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z September 17, 2021
SMOKE:
Lower 48 States of U.S./Southeastern Canada/Northern Mexico/Pacific off
the West Coast of the U.S…
A large area of primarily thin density smoke linked to the ongoing
wildfires burning in the western U.S. with possible more localized
contribution from daily agricultural type fire activity in the south
central U.S. was visible this morning stretching from just off the west
coast of California and Baja eastward and inland over virtually all of
the western and central U.S. and northern Mexico, and across the Great
Lakes region and a portion of the northeastern U.S. and southeastern
Canada. Cloud cover across the region from the Middle Mississippi Valley
eastward to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. interfered with
smoke detection in those areas. A swath of moderate to thick density
smoke was seen extending from the wildfires in south central and east
central California to the east and northeast reaching the Central Plains
region where it was concentrated along a frontal boundary. More moderate
to thick density smoke was noted closer to the wildfires in northwestern
California and spreading northward into southwestern Oregon with somewhat
more localized smoke seen near and in the valleys around the wildfires
in west central Oregon, central Idaho, and western Montana. Cloud cover
ahead of a storm system had spread inland over southern British Columbia,
Washington, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana which greatly
limited fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery in those locations.
Atlantic...
Leftover areas of smoke attribute to the ongoing wildfire activity
mainly over the western U.S. was seen off the east coast of Canada and
the U.S. east coast well out over the open Atlantic. Most of the smoke
was of thin density though a swath of moderate to even thick density
smoke was seen in the region roughly bounded by 40-50N latitude and
30-63W longitude.
DUST:
Caribbean Region…
An area of thin density Saharan dust was visible this morning moving
slowly to the west over the islands bordering the eastern Caribbean Sea,
much of the eastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and just south of Hispaniola.
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