Sunday, September 19, 2021

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0250Z September 19, 2021

SMOKE:
Continental U.S./Mexico/Canada...
A large plume originating primarily from wildfires over northern
California and southwestern Oregon and from agricultural fires in the
Mississippi Valley was detected 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 farther
toward the north covering a large part of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and
towards the south occupying much of the Great Plains.  An area of light
density smoke was observed over Baja California and parts of northwestern
Mexico.  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. was moving predominantly toward the east.
The smoke over the Great Plains Baja California showed 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 found stretching for several hundred miles
across the northwestern Atlantic moving eastward.  A second plume of
similar light density smoke was observed over the Atlantic waters east
of the Florida peninsula and north of Cuba.


DUST:
Caribbean...
Light Saharan dust was observed moving westward across the western
part of the Caribbean Sea.

Konon


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.