DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z June 21, 2022
SMOKE: Central and Eastern U.S./South Central and Southeastern Canada… A huge mass of mainly thin density smoke attributed mainly to recent and current wildfire activity in the southwestern U.S. was present covering much of the central and eastern U.S. and up over south central and southeastern Canada. Some of the smoke in the northern portions of this area might also be from the wildfires burning in northwestern Canada and Alaska. Within this huge mass of thin density smoke were patches of moderate density smoke, trapped under a large upper level ridge of high pressure, which were seen in the south central and central U.S. generally from central Texas and Louisiana northward to eastern Iowa. Southwestern U.S./Far northwestern Mexico/Pacific off the Southern California Coast… An area of thin density smoke linked primarily to a few wildfires burning in the southwestern U.S. was visible this morning stretching from along and off the coast of southern California to the east and inland over southern California, and northwestern Mexico as well as much of Arizona, most of Utah, northwestern New Mexico, western Colorado, and southern Wyoming. Alaska/Canada… Large areas of mainly thin density smoke, attributed to wildfires scattered across portions of Alaska and northwestern Canada were visible this morning stretching from western and central Alaska eastward to portions of western and central Canada. Thin density smoke then continued over far northern and northeastern Canada and over the Labrador Sea. Extensive cloud cover over southeastern Alaska, the southern part of the Yukon, and most of British Columbia along with areas of central and eastern Canada did limit information on the extent and density of any smoke which might be present in those regions. Within the large areas of thin density smoke, some thicker smoke could be seen over the central part of the Northwest Territories, central Alaska, and southwestern Alaska extending over a portion of the Gulf of Alaska. Southeastern Canada/Northeastern U.S./Far Western Atlantic… Some thin density smoke likely from the wildfires in Alaska and northwestern Canada was seen this morning spreading to the south from southern Quebec over portions of the northeastern U.S. and offshore to the south of there over the far western Atlantic. A band of cloud cover farther to the west stretching from New York to North Carolina limited additional information on the extent and density of any smoke which might be present there. DUST: Tropical Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea… Thin density Saharan dust covered the western Caribbean Sea including the islands of Jamaica and Cuba, in addition to the southern Bahamas. Another area of light Saharan dust is approaching the eastern Caribbean islands from the tropical central Atlantic region. 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