DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 20, 2022
SMOKE: Canada/U.S./Atlantic Off the Northeastern U.S. and Southeastern Canada Coast… Smoke of varying density covered most of Canada with the exception of the far western and northwestern portions as well as a large portion of the U.S. with the exception of some of the Southwest, South Central, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions. Thinner density smoke also stretched to the east off the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada coast over the Atlantic Ocean. The majority of this smoke was due to very significant wildfire activity scattered especially across central and northwestern Canada. Additional wildfires in the northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada were also contributing to the large mass of smoke. Thicker density smoke was seen in a swath extending from the southeastern Yukon, far northwestern British Columbia, and the southwest part of the Northwest Territories to the east likely reaching the western part of Hudson Bay. Additional patches of thicker density smoke were noted over southeastern Alberta and the southern half of Saskatchewan, along with central Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. In the northwestern U.S., thicker density smoke was visible over east central Idaho and southwestern Montana and closer to wildfires in central Washington, west central Oregon, and northwestern California. DUST: Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic Ocean… Saharan dust could no longer be seen in the Caribbean region in satellite imagery. A large area of Saharan dust was visible with the western leading edge just east of the far eastern Caribbean region and extending to the west coast of Africa. 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