DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z June 18, 2022
SMOKE: Much of the U.S./South Central 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. and the Great Lakes region and Northeast. 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. and over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico where it became very thin in density. Within this large mass of thin density smoke were sizable patches of moderate to thick density smoke which were generally located over the central U.S. from South Dakota and western Iowa southward to southern Arkansas and northern Texas. Agricultural burning was also noted across the Middle Mississippi Valley this morning producing primarily thin density smoke plumes which moved to the southwest. South Central Canada… A batch of leftover thin density smoke likely from wildfires scattered across the far northern portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and the southern part of the Northwest Territories was seen this morning moving to the southeast from the southwestern portion of Hudson Bay across Ontario reaching as far south as the northern part of Lake Huron. Western and Northern Atlantic… Areas of leftover thin density smoke believed to be primarily from the wildfires in the southwestern U.S. were visible over the open Atlantic to the east of Bermuda and over the Canadian Maritimes curving up across the southern tip of Greenland and from there to the southeast over the north Atlantic. Alaska/Western and Central Canada… Again this morning, significant cloud cover over southwestern Alaska prevented detection of any smoke which still might be present there from recent active large wildfires. Patchy cloudiness over much of the remainder of Alaska also interfered with more precise information on the extent and density of smoke through satellite imagery. In the more cloud free areas and in between breaks in the clouds, thin to moderate density smoke from the Alaskan wildfires was visible extending from the Bering Sea to the west of Alaska eastward and inland across northern and central Alaska and much of northwestern Canada. The smoke also extended over the Arctic Ocean and beyond the geostationary satellite field of view. Farther to the east, a swath of moderate to even thick density smoke likely from the Alaska wildfires stretched from extreme north central Canada to the southeast over the eastern prt of Hudson Bay and northern Quebec. Western British Columbia/Pacific along and just off U.S. West Coast… A north-south elongate narrow swath of remnant thin density smoke attributed to the wildfires burning in Alaska was seen spreading to the south from along and off the coast of British Columbia to just off the coast of central California. 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, western, 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 and Arizona. The smoke also extended off the west coast of Mexico over the Gulf of California, Baja, and a portion of the nearby eastern Pacific where it wrapped around the northern periphery of Tropical Storm Blas. DUST: Western CONUS… A patch of thin to locally moderate density blowing dust was visible moving to the east and northeast across norther Nevada, southeastern Oregon, and roughly the southern half of Idaho. The dust may also extend farther to the north over western and central Montana possibly reaching the southern portions of Alberta and Saskatchewan where it mixes with smoke from the wildfires burning in the southwestern U.S. and northern Baja. Tropical Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea… The leading edge of a broad area of generally thin density Saharan dust was seen this morning spreading slowly to the west possibly reaching eastern Cuba. The dust covered Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the eastern Caribbean Sea along with most of the islands bordering the eastern end of the Caribbean Sea and the open tropical Atlantic. 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