DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z June 13, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/U.S./Atlantic Ocean… Numerous large wildfires continued with major wildfire episode scattered across portions of the southern half of Canada from northern British Columbia and the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories eastward over the southern tier of Canadian provinces to Quebec. This resulted in a very large mass of moderate to thick density smoke which covered a good part of southern Canada and extended off the southeast coast of Canada over the north Atlantic. A narrowing band of moderate to thick density smoke also spread to the south, southeast, and eventually to the east from the Northern Plains to the Middle Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley regions reaching the Appalachians. into the northwestern and north central U.S. from Montana to the Northern and Central Plains region. Thinner density smoke from these fires covered a sizable part of the Atlantic likely reaching Europe. Thinner density smoke also extended farther to the south over the south central U.S. and southeastern U.S. where it likely merged with smoke spreading to the north from the ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity occurring in Mexico and Central America. SMOKE/AEROSOL: South Central and Southeastern U.S./Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Western Gulf of Mexico/Pacific Ocean Well South of Mexico and Northwest Central America… A sizable area of thin to moderate density smoke linked to the ongoing widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America could be seen this morning over most of Mexico, northwestern Central America, the western Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean well south of Mexico and Central America. The northern portion of this smoke/aerosol likely merged with smoke from the Canadian wildfires somewhere over the South Central and southeastern U.S. The thickest smoke was noted over southern and eastern Mexico likely extending over at least smoke of the Bay of Campeche and the Pacific Ocean south of the southern coast of Mexico. Some aerosols from industrial activities in Mexico and Central America may also be present in this region. 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