DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 8, 2022
SMOKE: U.S./Southern Canada/Pacific off the U.S. West Coast/Atlantic off the Northeast U.S. Coast… A very large extent of thin density smoke was present this morning extending from off the U.S. West Coast over the far eastern Pacific to the east and inland over much of the lower 48 with the exception of some of the southwestern and far southern U.S. and from a portion of the Central Plains to the Great Lakes region. Cloudiness in the latter region prevented detection of any smoke which still might be present there through satellite imagery. In addition, the smoke also stretched over southern Canada from southern British Columbia to the western half of Ontario. More thin density smoke was seen off the northeastern U.S. coast and over the northern and central Atlantic. Much of this larger mass of smoke was due to a combination of wildfires in northwestern Canada and a few in Newfoundland, as well as in southwestern Canada and the northwestern U.S. Within the larger area of thin density smoke were smaller batches of moderate to thick density smoke which were visible closer to the larger wildfires burning in northern California, central Idaho, western Montana, and southern and southeastern British Columbia. Farther to the east, a larger area of moderate to thick density smoke was seen moving to the southeast over northern Minnesota and western Ontario. This smoke was believed to be from the wildfires in northwestern Canada. Northern Canada… A west to east elongated swath of thin density leftover smoke was visible this morning stretching from the northern part of the Northwest Territories to the east over the northern portion of Hudson Bay. Farther to the north over the Canadian Arctic, a smaller patch of remnant thin density smoke was also seen. This smoke was likely leftover from recent wildfire activity occurring in northwestern Canada. Cloud cover was prominent in and around the location of these recent and ongoing wildfires burning in northwestern Canada which limited smoke extent and density information through satellite imagery. Newfoundland... Cloudiness was widespread over Newfoundland and offshore to the east which prevented detection in satellite imagery of any smoke which may still be in the area from several wildfires burning in Newfoundland. DUST: Tropical Atlantic, Caribbean Sea... An area of Saharan dust was observed spreading slowly to the west across the tropical and subtropical Atlantic with the western portion now across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola along with the eastern Caribbean. The dust also was noted to the north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola and beginning to affect the Bahamas. JS 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