Thursday, August 11, 2022

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 11, 2022

SMOKE:
U.S./Canada/Pacific Off the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada…
Satellite imagery this morning shows a large mass of mainly thin
density smoke which stretches from off the west coast of Canada and
the western U.S. to the east and inland over much of western Canada and
the northwestern U.S. From there, the smoke branches off with one large
swath extending to the east and northeast over much of central Canada
and reaching northeastern Canada. The other branch extends from the
northwestern U.S. to the east and southeast over much of the central
U.S. with the smoke then narrowing farther to the east along a frontal
boundary as it passes over a portion of the Great Lakes region and
Ohio Valley to the northeastern U.S. It is believed that most of the
smoke across central and northeastern Canada is from ongoing and recent
wildfire activity in northwestern Canada. The smoke over the central and
northeastern U.S. is probably a combination of smoke from the wildfires
in northwestern Canada as well as the northwestern part of the U.S.,
while the smoke over the northwestern U.S., southwestern Canada, and off
the west coast of Canada and the U.S. was believed to be primarily from
the wildfires in the northwestern U.S. with some contribution from a few
wildfires in southwestern Canada. Areas of thicker smoke were generally
seen in the vicinity of some of the wildfires in northwestern California,
west central Oregon, east central Idaho, south central Washington,
southwestern and western Canada, and along the border of northwestern
Montana and southeastern British Columbia.

Atlantic…
A patch of leftover thin density smoke which may be from a combination of
the recent wildfire activity in northwestern Canada and the northwestern
U.S. was visible well off the northeast U.S. coast and south of Nova
Scotia. Farther to the northeast, a somewhat larger batch of remnant smoke
was located along the coast of Newfoundland and extending to the northeast
from there over the northern Atlantic passing south of Greenland. This
smoke may be from recent wildfires which were burning in Newfoundland.

DUST:
Florida/Bahamas/Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean Sea...
A remnant patch of Saharan dust was visible this morning over the Bahamas
and extending to the west and inland over the Florida peninsula. The
dust also was present to the north of the Bahamas off the southeast
U.S. coast and may extend inland over coastal Georgia. A larger and more
significant area of Saharan Dust was seen extending westward from the
Sahara to the eastern and possibly central Caribbean, reaching Puerto
Rico and Hispaniola.

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

 


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.