DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0053Z July 27, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean/Northern Mexico/Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast/Northern Gulf of Mexico… The large area of smoke primarily from the wildfires in western and northwestern Canada continues to be observed today. The light smoke blankets an area including much of Canada, a significant portion of the CONUS, eastern Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and the north Atlantic. Thicker smoke exists across northwestern Canada, where moderate to thick smoke emissions were seen emanating from persistent wildfire activity across eastern Northwest Territory and far northern Saskatchewan and moving mainly westward. Moderate density smoke was also noted emanating from the persistent fire activity in west-central Quebec. Remnant moderate density smoke was also observed across the northeastern CONUS, Great Lakes, and into the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas. Pacific Northwest… A couple fires from Oregon to western Montana and southeastern BC were seen emanating mainly moderate smoke with two in Oregon and one in Idaho emanating thicker smoke. Most smoke was moving northeastward while smoke across western Oregon was moving east-southeastward. 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. Smoke from various sources was adding to the amount of total aerosol over the Gulf of Mexico. Eglin 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