DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0038Z October 16, 2022
SMOKE: Northwestern U.S./Southern British Columbia... Numerous wildfires scattered across the northwestern U.S. and far southern British Columbia were responsible for a sizable area of varying density smoke which spread to the west and southwest impacting portions of Washington, Oregon, southern British Columbia, offshore of southwestern Canada and the Pacific Northwest. A large area of moderate density smoke within the light smoke was filled with patches of thicker smoke throughout the day. Heavier smoke was noted over western Washington, western Oregon, and just off the coast of Washington and Oregon. Some of the thicker smoke had settled into the valley regions of the Pacific Northwest. Smaller individual smoke plumes were noted farther inland over southern British Columbia, northern and central Idaho, and western Montana. Central and Eastern U.S./Central, South Central, and Southeastern Canada/Northern Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic off the U.S. East Coast... A large mass of generally thin density smoke covered much of the central and eastern U.S. along with central, south central, and southeastern Canada, the northern Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic just off the east coast of the U.S. This smoke was likely due to a combination of the continuing wildfire activity in northwestern Canada and daily seasonal/agricultural type fire activity occurring especially in the south central and southeastern U.S. A couple of areas of moderate density smoke were visible through breaks in the cloudiness over south Dakota, and in northeastern Canada but cloud cover precluded more accurate information on the extent and density of the smoke in these areas today. Northwestern Canada... A few wildfires were visible in between breaks in the cloud cover especially over northeastern British Columbia and the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories. Light to heavy smoke could be seen moving generally east into Alberta from British Columbia through breaks in the clouds but no smoke was seen around these fires due to widespread cloud cover. Eglin 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