DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z June 15, 2022
SMOKE: Alaska/Northwestern Canada... Numerous large wildfires burning in southwestern and central Alaska were responsible for large areas of varying density smoke which affected virtually all of Alaska, and portions of northwestern Canada. The thickest smoke was present around some of the larger wildfires in Alaska as well as over approximately the eastern half of Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, and far northwestern Canada from the northern Yukon across the northwest part of the Northwest Territories. Thicker smoke also stretched in a band from northern British Columbia to the central part of the Northwest Territories. Southwestern and Central U.S… A swath of varying density smoke from several larger wildfires burning in Arizona and New Mexico extended from portions of Arizona and New Mexico to the northeast across the central U.S. to as far as southern Wisconsin. Cloudiness farther to the north prevented additional information from satellite imagery on the extent of the smoke. The thickest smoke in this region was seen from the western Oklahoma panhandle to central Iowa. Eastern U.S… A batch of leftover thin density smoke believed to be mainly from the wildfires in the southwestern U.S. was visible this morning extending from around Lake Erie southward to eastern Georgia, South Carolina, and just off the southeastern U.S. coast. Pacific off the California Coast… An area of thin density smoke possibly from the Alaska wildfires and/or the southwestern U.S. wildfires was present along and off the central and southern California coast over the nearby Pacific. Northwestern and North Central U.S./South Central Canada… A band of remnant thin density smoke attributed mainly to the wildfires burning in Alaska was seen extending from Washington to the east and southeast as far east as the Dakotas. The smoke then curved to the north and eventually back to the west around a low pressure system’s circulation with the smoke impacting southwestern Ontario, southern Manitoba, and southern Saskatchewan in Canada. Northeastern Canada… At least a couple of wildfires in north central Quebec were responsible for a ribbon of thin to moderately dense smoke over a portion of the province. Locally thicker smoke was visible moving to the northeast from one of the wildfires. North Central Canada… A number of wildfires scattered over the southern part of the Northwest Territories, and the northern portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba were detected overnight but only a few smoke plumes were barely visible this morning in between breaks in the clouds which spread over the region. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean/Southwestern U.S… Generally thin density smoke from seasonal fire activity and possibly a few wildfires in Mexico combined with aerosols from industry was visible this morning over western and northern Mexico, the Gulf of California, Baja, and off the western coast of Mexico over the eastern Pacific. The smoke also likely extended into portions of the southwestern U.S where it eventually mixed with smoke from the wildfires burning in Arizona and New Mexico. DUST: Central U.S… A leftover batch of thin to moderately dense blowing dust which originated yesterday in the southwestern U.S. and spread quickly to the northeast was seen this morning over northeastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, the northern half of Missouri, western Indiana, and southwestern lower Michigan. The dust may also extend farther to the north but cloudiness in that area limited information from satellite imagery. Tropical Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico... Two areas of Saharan Dust were noted with the first extending across the Tropical Atlantic Ocean through the eastern Caribbean Islands and into the eastern Caribbean Sea possibly as far west as Puerto Rico. The second was seen over the western Caribbean Sea extending northwest through the western Caribbean and across the Yucatan Peninsula and over the western Gulf of Mexico possibly reaching southern and southeastern Texas and eastern Mexico. 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov