DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2350Z August 15, 2022
SMOKE: Oregon/California… Wildfires remained active in west central Oregon and northwest California resulting in light-to-moderate smoke affecting southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Pockets of heavier smoke were seen near the sources and extending to the west of the wildfires in west central Oregon while a larger mass of heavier density smoke from the Six Rivers Lightning Complex fire in northwestern California was present especially near and to the southeast of the fire. This area of heavier smoke was generally located between Eureka and Redding. 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, while a larger moderate density 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 light-density smoke from the southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. wildfires covered portions of Montana, southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. Central and Northern Canada… Wildfire activity was observed over eastern Northwestern Territories leading to a large area of predominantly light-density smoke extending eastward across Nunavut and over Hudson Bay and parts of eastern Quebec. An area of moderate density smoke was also seen across central Nunavut. South Central and Southeastern U.S./Northern Gulf of Mexico/Northern Mexico… A large area of remnant thin density smoke was seen stretching from Kansas and Oklahoma 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. WS 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