DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1620Z September 18, 2021
SMOKE:
Northwestern, Northern, and Northeastern U.S./Great Plains/Gulf of
California/Southern Saskatchewan...
A large plume originating primarily from wildfires along Northern
California and Oregon, and from agricultural fires along the Mississippi
Valley is seen covering the majority of the Northwestern, Northern and
Northeastern U.S. and Great Plains in predominantly lighter density smoke,
whereas a sizable area of moderate-to-heavy density smoke extends from
the Southern San Joaquin Valley in California to western Nevada, and into
Central Idaho and Montana, reaching parts of the western Dakotas. The
large plume extends further toward the north into Southern Saskatchewan
and toward the south occupying much of the Great Plains, while another
pocket of light smoke is observed over the Gulf of California. The
individual wildfire plumes in California and Oregon are dispersing toward
the northeast, while the larger area of smoke along the Northern and
Northeastern U.S. is moving predominantly toward the east. The smoke
over the Great Plains and Gulf of California shows little movement.
Atlantic...
Detached areas of light-density smoke attributed to the ongoing
wildfire activity over the Western U.S. and agricultural fires along
the Mississippi Valley were seen stretching for several hundred miles
across the Northwestern Atlantic and moving eastward. A second plume of
similar light-density smoke could be observed over the Atlantic waters
east of the Florida peninsula and north of Cuba.
DUST:
Caribbean Sea...
Light Saharan dust was observed moving westward across the Western
Caribbean Sea.
WS
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