DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 15, 2022
SMOKE: Oregon/California… Wildfires in west central Oregon and northwest California were responsible for an area of varying density smoke affecting southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Localized thicker density smoke was seen near and extending to the west of the wildfires in west central Oregon while a larger mass of thick density smoke from the Six Rivers Lightning Complex fire in northwestern California was present especially near and to the east and southeast of the fire mixing with dense low cloudiness in the valley regions. This area of thicker smoke was generally located between Eureka and Redding and extended south from there along Interstate 5 and also over Red Bluff and Chico. Northwestern U.S./Southwestern and South Central Canada… Wildfires scattered over southeastern British Columbia, central and northeastern Washington, western Montana, and central Idaho were emitting rather localized moderate to dense smoke plumes this morning, while a much larger moderate to dense smoke plume from a fire to the southwest of Calgary in southeastern British Columbia was visible spreading to the east and northeast over Calgary and southern Alberta. A broader area of thinner density smoke from the southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. wildfires covered portions of the northwestern and north central U.S. and southwestern and south central Canada where the smoke eventually likely mixed with smoke from wildfires that are burning in central and northwestern Canada. Central and Northern Canada… Significant wildfire activity was detected over northwestern Manitoba, northern Saskatchewan, northeastern Alberta, and the Northwest Territories which resulted in a substantial amount of smoke spread across portions of central and northern Canada. Thicker smoke within this area was noted over northwestern Manitoba and from northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan over the southeast part of the Northwest Territories and southwestern Nunavut. The thickest and most widespread smoke though was seen a bit farther to the north from the east central part of the Northwest Territories eastward over Nunavut with the leading edge nearing the northwest part of Hudson Bay. Thinner density smoke extended as far east as central and northern Quebec and the Labrador Sea. South Central and Southeastern U.S./Northern Gulf of Mexico/Northern Mexico… A large area of remnant thin density smoke attributed primarily to recent and ongoing wildfire activity in the northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada was seen this morning stretching from northern Mexico and New Mexico/eastern Colorado to the east across parts of the central and south central U.S. along with the southeastern U.S. and northern Gulf of Mexico. DUST: Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic… Saharan dust was visible in satellite imagery over the open tropical and subtropical Atlantic with the far western leading edge now just beginning to impact the far eastern Caribbean islands. 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