DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z October 12, 2022
SMOKE: Northern and Central Canada… Numerous wildfires across western Canada and Northwestern Territories produced a large area of thin density smoke that engulfs most of central Canada and parts of northern U.S. Despite massive cloud cover, a large detached thick density smoke was extending from the eastern Northwest Territories southeast through much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Another area of moderate to high density smoke was also observed in south-central region of the Northwest Territories, much closer to the source of the wildfires. Northwestern U.S/British Columbia... Wildfires across the northwestern U.S produced an area of thin density smoke that extends across most of Washington, northern Idaho, and parts of southern British Columbia. Within this area, moderate density smoke was observed over northwestern Washington and small parts of British Columbia due to the most of the main fire activity being over in this region. Localized high density smoke was also observed in Washington and British Columbia. Oregon... The Cedar Creek Fire was seen producing a light to moderate smoke extending southwest well into the Pacific Ocean. Thick smoke was also observed, though it was much closer to the source of the fire. Southern Great Plains/Mississippi Valley... A large area of light residual smoke was seen extending from Wyoming southeast through northern Texas and into Arkansas. This smoke is likely due to the combination of the wildfires in the Northwestern U.S and Canada along with contribution from agricultural burning throughout the Mississippi Valley and southeastern U.S. Cloud over the eastern U.S prevented further smoke analysis. DUST: Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic, Eastern Caribbean Sea and Eastern Caribbean Islands…. A large area of Saharan dust was extending off the coast of Western Africa and previous was observed progressing across much of the Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic Ocean. Light dust may be continuing to progress over the Eastern Caribbean Islands and Sea though tropical activity in the area has made it difficult to analyze further. 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