Friday, July 15, 2022

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0132Z July 16, 2022

SMOKE:
Alaska, Gulf of Alaska, Canada, North Central and Northeastern United
States/Atlantic off the Northeast U.S. and Southeastern Canada Coast…
A very significant amount of wildfire activity continues to be observed
across portions of Alaska, and northwestern and west central Canada which
is responsible for an enormous area of smoke which blankets eastern
of Alaska (western Alaska became cloud covered this evening), some of
the Gulf of Alaska, most of Canada with the exception of southwestern
Canada and far eastern Canada, this smoke extends into the Central and
Eastern United States, The thickest smoke was visible across Alaska and
northwestern Canada where moderate to thick smoke was stretching southeast
from eastern Alberta to the western edge of Quebec, and extending over
the Arctic. Thinner density smoke also appeared to spread far enough south
to impact portions of the north central and northeastern United States.

California...
The Washburn Fire in east central California in the central Sierra-Nevada
Mountains was responsible for an area of light density smoke extending
from the fire to the north and into western Nevada. Smoke may be more
prevalent in the southwestern U.S. but cloud cover precluded further
analysis.

Nevada...
In northeastern Nevada a moderate density smoke plume attributed to a
wildfire was observed through breaks in the clouds moving northwest into
southern Idaho.

Oklahoma...
In northern Oklahoma a moderate to heavy density smoke plume attributed
to a wildfire was observed moving in a northerly direction entering
southern Kansas.

Central and Eastern United States...
Very large coverage of mainly thin density smoke was present across the
majority of the Central and Eastern United States The smoke was likely
a mixture of seasonal burning and smoke transported long range from the
large wildfires burning in Alaska and northwestern Canada and smoke from
the larger wildfires in California and Utah.

DUST:
Tropical Atlantic/Eastern Caribbean…
The western portion of a very large area of Saharan dust had moved far
enough to the west to cover the eastern Caribbean including Puerto Rico
and Hispaniola.

Yucatan Peninsula/Gulf of Mexico…
Another batch of Saharan dust was present today over the Yucatan
Peninsula, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.