DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z August 16, 2023
SMOKE: United States/Northeastern Alaska/Canada/Northern Mexico/Atlantic Ocean... Very large wildfires burning in northwestern Canada were primarily responsible for an enormous batch of smoke which covered much of Canada as well as northeastern Alaska, the eastern two-thirds of the lower 48, northern Mexico, the northern Gulf of Mexico, and some of the western Atlantic off the east coast of the U.S. and Canada. Embedded areas of thicker smoke were seen over far north central Canada, and in the region stretching from the southern part of the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta to the east and southeast extending as far east as western Quebec. Additional thicker smoke was seen over far eastern Canada, the Labrador Sea, and western Greenland. Southwestern Canada/Northwestern U.S./Pacific Ocean Off the Coast of Western Canada and the Northwestern U.S… Numerous wildfires scattered in British Columbia and some of the northwestern U.S. were responsible for smoke of varying density which covered the region and extended over the Pacific off the coast of British Columbia and the Northwestern U.S. The smoke also likely spread to the east and southeast over the Central U.S. where it merged with smoke from the large wildfires in northwestern Canada. DUST: Bahamas/Caribbean Region/Atlantic Ocean... The leading part of a very large area of Saharan dust was present over at least the eastern Bahamas, much of the Caribbean region, and the tropical and subtropical Atlantic extending to western Africa. The dust appeared to be somewhat thicker over Puerto Rico and the eastern Caribbean 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