DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z July 13, 2022
SMOKE: Alaska, Canada,North Central and Northeastern United States/Atlantic off the Northeast U.S. and Southeastern Canada Coast… Significant wildfire activity continues to be observed across portions of Alaska and northwestern and central Canada, which is responsible for an expansive area of varying density smoke that blankets much of Alaska, portions of the Gulf of Alaska,portions of the Arctic Ocean, Canada (excluding southwestern Canada) and extends off the southeast coast of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. The thickest smoke was observed across southeastern Alaska and emanating from the parent fire activity in central Alaska, northern Saskatchewan, and northwestern Manitoba. The smoke from the fire activity in Alaska was moving east-southeast, while smoke from the fire activity in northern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba was moving north-northwest at the surface to east-northeast as each plume rose. Remnant smoke from the past couple of days and weeks was seen dropping south from the Arctic across Nunavut and into northern Manitoba and across Hudson Bay. The remnant smoke was then being drawn across Ontario, the Great Lakes, the northeastern CONUS, eastern Canada, and out into the Atlantic California & Nevada... The Washburn Fire continued to produce heavy smoke this afternoon. The smoke was moving generally northward across the central Sierras, from where the smoke then started moving northeast into Nevada. The exact extent of the smoke was somewhat difficult to assess due to blowing dust at the presumed northern extent. Central and Eastern United States... An area of mainly thin density smoke was present across the majority of the southeastern CONUS extending from the Red River Valley east across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia into the Carolinas. This is likely remnant smoke from fires in the western CONUS as well as some smoke from the fire activity in Alaska and Canada with minor contributions from isolated seasonal burning. DUST: Tropical Atlantic and Western Caribbean... A huge area of Saharan dust was seen extending across the Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and into the Bay of Campeche and southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The layer also includes the Bahamas and the Florida Peninsula. Northern Sierras/Northwestern Nevada/Extreme SE Oregon… Dust was observed this afternoon and evening being lofted from numerous sources in the northern Sierras and northwestern Nevada. These sources include Honey Lake in the Sierras and Black Rock Desert, Smoke Creek Desert, and the Carson and Humboldt Sinks in northwestern Nevada. The dust was mainly moving east-northeast except from the Carson Sink, where the dust was moving east-southeast. 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