DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0120Z October 20, 2022
SMOKE: Pacific Northwest/Western Canada/Southern Canada/Northwest Territories... A large area of light density smoke with areas of moderate to high density smoke from the ongoing fires over the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was extending from portions of western Canada, the Pacific Northwest off the coast of the United States and southwestern Canada through British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Within this area of smoke, several larger areas of moderate density smoke were seen over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, southern British Columbia, southern Alberta, southwestern Saskatchewan as well as off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. An area of light density smoke from of the ongoing larger fires in the Northwest Territories was detected by by the sensors but cloud cover prevented further smoke analysis in this area. In addition, individual fires producing light density smoke plumes were also observed across northern California, likely contributing the smoke along the Pacific Ocean. Central U.S... Numerous isolated agricultural fires from southern Saskatchewan and North Dakota left an area of light density residual smoke that was observed moving southward from Nebraska, through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and end just across the boarder with Mexico. Smoke ongoing wildfires over the Pacific Northwest and western Canada may be contributing to this mass as well. Cloud cover prevented further smoke analysis over the fires in Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Southeastern U.S... Numerous agricultural fires across the Mississippi Valley and southeastern U.S were producing light density smoke plumes. Smoke plumes border west of the Mississippi River were moving eastward while smoke plumes in the southeastern U.S states east of the Mississippi river were observed moving south/southeastward. An area note is southern Louisiana, where fires in the region were observed producing a patch of moderate dense smoke moving south towards the Gulf of Mexico. 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