DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0140Z August 20, 2022
SMOKE: Much of Canada/Northwestern and Central United States…. Fire activity over the northwestern United States, southwestern Canada and northern Canada were combining to produce large areas of light to heavy density smoke that was extending across most of the northwestern and central U.S as well as most of Canada. Within this area localized areas of moderate to high density smoke were seen near the ongoing fire activity over the area. The smoke likely may extend further into eastern U.S however cloud cover has formed and obstructed the region. A massive patch of heavy density smoke was observed moving across the Northwestern Territories before running into cloud cover. DUST: Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Caribbean Sea... An area of Saharan Dust was seen extending west from the Sahara into the Tropical Atlantic. Cloud cover over the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico obstructed further analysis on the extent of the Saharan dust. Nguyen 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