DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z July 24, 2022
SMOKE: Much of Canada/Central and Eastern United States/Northern Mexico/Atlantic Ocean… Very large coverage of mainly thinner density smoke was again seen this morning across much of Canada with the exceptions of far western Canada, a portion of northwestern Canada, and a part of Hudson Bay along with a sliver of eastern Canada. The smoke also was prevalent over virtually all of the central and eastern U.S. and over a portion of northern Mexico. In addition, the smoke extended offshore of the U.S. and well out across the central and northern Atlantic. A good amount of this smoke was likely from recent significant wildfire activity in central and northwestern Canada though some contribution from a few of the larger wildfires in the western U.S. was likely occurring especially from portions of the western U.S. to the central U.S. Within the larger mass of thin density smoke were embedded patches of moderate density smoke which were seen over the Ohio River Valley extending east-northeastward across the Mid-Atlantic and just offshore from New England and Nova Scotia. Farther to the west, and much closer to some of the recent and currently active wildfires were batches of moderate to thick density smoke which were seen around the western periphery of an low pressure area over James Bay/southern Hudson Bay, over northeastern Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba, and over the Northwest Territory, extreme northern Alberta, and extreme southeastern Yukon. The smoke over the Northwest Territory is the result of thick smoke emissions from fire activity along the far southern territorial border between the Yukon and Northwest Territory. Idaho/Montana/South Dakota… Thick smoke from both the Moose Fire and the newly invigorated Woodtick Fire in east central Idaho was seen this afternoon and evening extending northeast into far extreme southwestern Montana. Both were producing Pyrocumulus, with the Woodtick Fire Pyrocumulus slightly more impressive in coverage. Moderate density smoke was observed extending southeast of the fire, as well as east along the Wyoming and Montana border into northwestern South Dakota. California/Nevada/Idaho/Wyoming/Pacific Ocean… The Oak Fire in the central Sierras continued to produce significant smoke this afternoon with thick density active smoke emissions (Pyrocumulus) extending north then arcing northeastward across Lake Tahoe and then across north-central Nevada eventually reaching far southeastern Idaho and perhaps central Wyoming. Remnant smoke from yesterday was seen blanketing the southern Sierras into the Mojave Desert, with some seen extending further south across the Transverse Ranges, over Los Angeles and the eastern Channel Islands and across the near-coastal portions of the Pacific. DUST: Tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea… A swath of thin density Saharan dust could be seen over the southwestern Caribbean Sea while a more substantial batch was encroaching upon the eastern Caribbean Islands and areas further east out into the Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic. Central Nevada… As has happened the last couple of days, blowing dust was observed being transported eastward from the Black Rock Desert to over the Eugene Mountains. JS/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