DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z October 3, 2021
SMOKE: Western and Central U.S./Northern Mexico/Eastern Pacific off the western U.S. and Mexican Coastlines… Thick smoke from at least 2 large wildfires burning in the southern Sierras of east central California was seen this morning across the interior portions of northern and central California. Thinner density smoke from these fires also was present over portions of the southwestern, central, and south central U.S. as well as northern Mexico and off the coast of both California and Baja. Farther to the northeast, a few wildfires in central Idaho and western Montana were responsible for smoke which stretched across Montana and Wyoming before reaching the northern and central U.S. where it likely merged with smoke from the fires in south central Canada and from the California fires. A relatively smaller batch of remnant moderate to thick density smoke linked to the Idaho and Montana wildfires was visible moving to the east and southeast over southeastern Montana and Northeastern Wyoming. South Central Canada/North Central U.S… At least one large intense wildfire in east central Saskatchewan was responsible for a sizable area of moderate to thick density smoke which covered eastern Saskatchewan, much of Manitoba, western Ontario, and portions of the Dakotas and Minnesota. Mid-Atlantic Region/Northeast/Far Western Atlantic off the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast… Leftover very thin density smoke likely from the wildfires in the western U.S. was seen over the Mid-Atlantic region and a portion of the Northeast and extending off the coast of these areas over the far western Atlantic. Northeastern Canada/North Atlantic… Patches of leftover thin density smoke believed to be either from the wildfires in the western U.S. and/or in south central Canada were seen this morning extending from central and northern Quebec across a portion of the Labrador Sea and along and off the southern tip of Greenland over the northern Atlantic. DUST: Eastern Caribbean/Central and Eastern Atlantic… The large area of Saharan dust continues to push slowly to the west and was now beginning to impact Hispaniola. It was also seen over Puerto Rico, the eastern Caribbean and the eastern Caribbean islands. The dust also was present across portions of the central and eastern Atlantic to the west coast of Africa. 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