DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z June 22, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/U.S./Atlantic/Pacific... Significant wildfire activity continued especially over western Canada including northern and northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and the southwest part of the Northwest Territories as well as central and eastern Canada including west-central Ontario and central and southern Quebec. Smoke from these fires covered a large part of Canada and extended southward into parts northwestern, central, and northeastern U.S. The smoke also had spread eastward across parts of the northern and central Atlantic likely reaching Europe. The thickest smoke linked to the wildfires in Ontario and Quebec was observed spreading to the east over central and eastern Ontario, the southern tip of Hudson Bay, and central and southern Quebec. A portion of the thicker smoke also appeared to impact the lower peninsula of Michigan and some of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and far northern Maine. A larger surrounding area of moderate smoke mainly from the Ontario and Quebec fires affected parts of the north central and central U.S. Farther to the west, patches of thicker density smoke attributed to fires in western Canada were noted over central and eastern British Columbia, west central Alberta, and west central Saskatchewan though cloud cover in this region interfered with additional information on the extent and density of the smoke in satellite imagery. Generally thin to perhaps moderately dense smoke from the western Canadian fires spread to the southwest and off the coast of southwestern Canada and the western U.S. and eventually wrapped back inland over the northwestern part of the U.S. It is also likely that the smoke from the Canadian fires merged with smoke from the fires in Mexico somewhere over the south-central and southeastern U.S. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern U.S./Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean South of Southern Mexico and Northwestern Central America... Seasonal fires and a few wildfires continue to burn mainly in Mexico resulting in a large mass of thin to moderately dense smoke covering all of Mexico, the western Gulf of Mexico, northwestern Central America, and the Pacific Ocean south and southwest of the southern coast of Mexico. The thicker smoke was present over western, southern, and eastern Mexico. The smoke from the Mexico fires also likely merged with smoke from the Canadian fires somewhere over the south central and southeastern U.S. It is likely that some aerosols from industrial activities in Mexico and Central America may also be present with the smoke over this large region. DUST: Puerto Rico/Far Eastern Caribbean... The western and leading edge of a large area of Saharan dust moved a bit farther to the west and was over Puerto Rico and the far eastern Caribbean Sea including the islands bordering the eastern Caribbean. 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