DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z November 17, 2022
SMOKE: Pacific Northwest… From northern California into southern BC, numerous light to moderate smoke plumes were observed emanating from a combination of small wildfires and prescribed burning. Smoke from northern California to Washington state was mainly moving west with terrain flow forcing some in variable directions...while smoke from fires north of 49N was moving mainly east-southeastward. Western Canada… A few scattered smoke plumes were noted across northern Alberta into central BC. These mainly light smoke plumes were moving eastward to southeastward across the lower terrain of northern Alberta and southwestward across the higher terrain of central BC. BLOWING DUST: Desert Southwest/Baja California/Gulf of California… Dust from numerous sources was observed being lofted and transported southward as far south as half the length of the Gulf of California. The main sources of blowing dust, in increasing contribution, are the Red Lake dry lake bed in far northwestern Arizona, the Cadiz Dunes Wilderness Area within the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, and the western parts of the Reserva de la Biosfera Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Rio Colorado in far northern Baja California. From Earlier… OTHER AEROSOLS/SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Southeastern Mexico/Pacific off the Southern Coast of Mexico… Similar to recent days, a broad area of what is most likely primarily thin density aerosol from industrial sources in Mexico with a smaller contribution of smoke from oil and gas flaring and seasonal fire activity in the region was seen over the Bay of Campeche, portions of southeastern Mexico, and the Pacific off the southern coast of Mexico. KH/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