DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0118Z October 6, 2021
SMOKE: U.S./Southern Canada/Northern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/The Pacific off California and Mexico Coastline... Areas of smoke due primarily to ongoing wildfires in east central California, Idaho, western Montana, and eastern Saskatchewan covered sizable portions of the U.S. and southern Canada today. In particular, a band of moderate smoke with some thick density smoke patches was seen stretching from central California to the northeast over the northern Rockies to central and eastern Montana. From there, the thicker band of smoke extended to the northeast and east across southern Canada from central and southern Saskatchewan eastward to southern Hudson Bay and western Quebec. The thicker smoke which stretched from central California to eastern Oregon and Idaho was due mainly to the larger wildfires burning in the southern Sierras of east central California while some of the more significant smoke across Montana and into Saskatchewan was due to the wildfires in Idaho and western Montana as well as from the California fires. Finally, farther to the north and east, the thicker smoke across south central and southeastern Canada was likely mainly from the larger wildfires in eastern Saskatchewan though some contribution from the Idaho, western Montana, and California fires may also be present. Extensive cloud cover over much of the Lower 48 and Canada precluded further visual smoke analysis. DUST: Atlantic… The area of Saharan dust which had been over a portion of the Caribbean region appears to have shifted north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Eglin 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