DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z June 18, 2022
SMOKE: Much of the U.S./Southwestern Canada/Far Western Atlantic… A huge area of thin density smoke attributed primarily to wildfires burning in New Mexico and Arizona with some more localized contribution from seasonal fire activity scattered mainly in the south central and southeastern U.S. was present over much of the lower 48 with the exception of the far western U.S., the far north central U.S., and a small part of the south central U.S. The thin density smoke also appeared to be over at least some of the far western Atlantic off the east coast of the U.S. Within this large mass of thin density smoke was a sizable batch of moderate to thick density smoke which stretched from northeastern Arizona, eastern Utah, and much of Wyoming eastward to central Nebraska, central Kansas, the western Oklahoma panhandle, and northwestern Texas. Smaller plumes of moderate to thick density smoke were visible moving to the north and northeast from wildfires in northern Baja, southern and east central Arizona, and southwestern New Mexico. Agricultural burning was noted across the northern Mississippi Valley as well, producing light to moderate smoke. Alaska/Western and Central Canada… Significant cloud cover over western and southwestern Alaska prevented detection of any smoke which still might be present there from recent active large wildfires. Farther to the east, the smoke area was seen beginning around central Alaska and extending to the east over eastern Alaska before fanning out over the Yukon, Northwestern Territories, and northern British Columbia. From there the batch of smoke narrowed a bit farther to the east over the southern part of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and northern and central Manitoba along with the far western part of Hudson Bay. Moderately dense to thick smoke was seen over central Alaska, portions of the Yukon and the western part of the Northwest Territories, and around the border of the 4 provinces of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The latter area of thicker smoke around the border of the 4 aforementioned provinces in Canada was due to wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean/Southwestern and South Central 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 primarily over central and northern Mexico and likely extending to the north into at least a portion of the southwestern and south central U.S. eventually mixing with smoke from wildfires burning in New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Baja. The smoke also extended off the west coast of Mexico over the Gulf of California, Baja, and a portion of the nearby eastern Pacific. DUST: Western CONUS… a vigorous storm system across the western CONUS was observed kicking up dust from various sources across California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah this afternoon and evening. The lofted dust was being transported north to north-northeastward across San Bernardino County in California, much of Nevada, and from northwestern Arizona (Red Lake) across western Utah (Sevier Lake + other sources) and into Idaho and western Montana. Some dust from the Carson Sink and Black Rock Desert, among other sources in northwestern Nevada, could be reaching into Oregon, but cloud cover is obscuring the extent of the dust plume there. Tropical Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea… An area of Saharan Dust was seen over the Caribbean from Hispaniola eastward. Part of this area was being caught up by a storm system in the middle of the North Atlantic while the remaining portions are moving westward. Hosley 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