DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0134Z June 22, 2022
SMOKE: Central and Eastern U.S./South Central and Southeastern Canada... A huge mass of mainly thin to moderate 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 mass of thin density smoke a large area of moderate density smoke was observed in the south central and south eastern U.S. generally from eastern Texas, then north into Nebraska, and eastward to western Kentucky and south over most of Alabama. Alaska/Canada... Large areas of mainly thin density smoke, attributed to wildfires scattered across portions of Alaska and northwestern Canada was observed 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, eastern and central Alaska, and southwestern Alaska extending over a portion of the Gulf of Alaska. Heavy density smoke could be seen at times through breaks in the clouds near the fire sources in the Northwest Territories and Alaska. Southwestern U.S., Utah... A Wildfire in southwestern Utah was emitting light to heavy density smoke which was moving across the state as evening approached. Other wildfires were noted in the southwestern U.S. today but the area became cloud cover by this evening preventing further smoke analysis in this region. Far Western Atlantic... Some thin density smoke likely from the wildfires in Alaska and northwestern Canada was seen today spreading to the south off the eastern U.S. coast. A band of moderate density smoke was seen within the mass of light density smoke off the northeastern U.S. coast. DUST: Tropical Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico. Thin density Saharan dust covered the western Caribbean Sea including the islands of Jamaica and Cuba, in addition to the southern Bahamas. This dust appears to travel across the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico but clouds in the area made it hard to decipher smoke from aerosols and Saharan dust over The Gulf of Mexico. Another area of light Saharan dust is approaching the eastern Caribbean islands from the tropical central Atlantic region. 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 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