DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z October 13, 2022
SMOKE: Northwestern U.S./Far Southern and Southwestern British Columbia… Wildfires scattered across the northwestern U.S. and southern British Columbia were responsible for smaller plumes of varying density along with a large mass of varying density smoke across this area. The thickest smoke was seen closer to some of the wildfires and in the valley regions over north central and northwestern Washington (mainly north of Seattle), and just over the border across far southern and southwestern British Columbia. More thick smoke was noted over west central Oregon spreading to the west and fanning out from the Cedar Creek Fire. Central U.S./South Central Canada… A large batch of thinner density smoke linked to the larger wildfires burning in northwestern Canada as well as significant daily seasonal/agricultural type fire activity occurring especially along the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley was visible this morning over much of the central U.S. and extending east to the Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley. Farther to the north, thicker smoke attributed to the wildfires in northwestern Canada was seen wrapping around a low pressure circulation. Significant cloud cover was present which did interfere with more accurate information on the extent and density of the smoke over the Great Lakes region and south central Canada though some moderate to thicker density smoke was seen through breaks in the clouds from portions of lower Michigan and Wisconsin northward over central Ontario. Northwestern Canada… Cloudiness moving over northwestern Canada prevented information on the extent and density of any smoke which is likely still present in the area from the ongoing wildfires. DUST: Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean Region… A batch of generally thin density Saharan dust was visible this morning spreading to the west over the eastern and central Caribbean region including Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and eastern Cuba. 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