DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z July 26, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean/Northern Mexico/Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast/Northern Gulf of Mexico… The enormous area of smoke primarily from the wildfires in western and northwestern Canada continues to be seen covering virtually all of Canada and most of the U.S. including most of Alaska, along with the northern half of Mexico and the northeastern Pacific off southern Alaska and southwest coast of Canada. Within this larger area of thin density smoke were batches of moderate to thick density smoke. The thick to very thick smoke that covered much of northern Canada within the Northwestern Territories and extending southeast through central Canada and into the Midwestern states and Great Lakes region. The moderate smoke from these fires extended from Alaska and Pacific Ocean off of the southern Alaskan coast, through central Canada, and moving to the southeastern/eastern Canada. It also extended well over the northwestern and north central U.S., covering much of Mid-west, Mississippi valley region and northeastern U.S. Oregon… Several fires located in western Oregon were seen producing thin to locally moderate smoke plumes moving toward northeast. DUST: Southeastern Gulf of Mexico/Bahamas/Caribbean Region/Western Atlantic Ocean… The Saharan dust layer continues to gradually shift farther to the west and now covers the western Gulf of Mexico, most of the Caribbean region including Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, along with the Bahamas, and the Atlantic to the east and northeast of the Bahamas and the Caribbean region. YL 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