DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0056Z July 18, 2022
SMOKE: Canada/Lower 48/Atlantic Off the Northeast U.S. Coast/Northern Mexico… An enormous area of thin density smoke covers virtually all of Canada with the exception of far western and northwestern Canada though cloud cover is interfering with the detection of any smoke which might be present in that area. The smoke also was seen over much of the lower 48 with the exception of a portion of the Southeast and western U.S. This smoke was attributed mainly to the ongoing larger wildfires burning in Alaska, and northwestern and central Canada though some contribution is also occurring from a few wildfires in the western lower 48 states and localized contributions from other much smaller fires scattered across the south central and southeastern U.S. Within the very big area of thin density smoke was a swath of much thicker smoke which stretched from extreme eastern Saskatchewan to the southeast to southeastern Quebec. This smoke was due to large active wildfires burning over northeastern Alberta, northern and east central Saskatchewan, and west central Manitoba. Northwestern U.S./Southwestern Canada/Pacific Off the Northwest U.S. Coast… A stripe of thin to moderate density smoke was visible from off the Pacific Northwest U.S. coast extending from central Washington to central California. This smoke is likely from the wildfires in Alaska which has been transported to the south and southeast over the Gulf of Alaska and Pacific off the western Canadian and Pacific Northwest coast and is now wrapping back to the northeast and back inland. Nevada/Idaho/Utah/Wyoming… A detached batch of moderate to thick density smoke, believed to be from the Wildcat Fire in northeastern Nevada, was seen this today moving to the southeast across northern Utah, southeastern Idaho, and southwestern and south central Wyoming. California... The Washburn Fire in east central California died down this evening but earlier today the wildfire in the central Sierra-Nevada Mountains was responsible for an area of localized moderate to thick smoke in the vicinity of and just to the west and northwest of the fire. Alaska... Significant cloud cover has overspread much of Alaska which is preventing detection of the recent significant wildfires but some light to moderate density smoke was visible over northern Alaska. 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 and central Caribbean including the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Gulf of Mexico/Texas and Louisiana Coast… Another batch of Saharan dust was present today across the western Gulf of Mexico and has likely spread inland to the west and northwest over the coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana. 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