DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z August 28, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/US Northwest, Great Plains and Southeast/Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico... Wildfire activity remains high in western Canada including central and southeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and southern Northwest Territories, in addition to northwestern California. High smoke concentration was observed closer to the wildfires, with moderate smoke extending out over British Columbia, Alberta, central-southern Northwest Territories,Saskatchewan, Manitoba, western Washington and Oregon, and parts of the Great Lakes region. Light density smoke in turn could be observed over most of Canada and the US, while stretching south along the Great Plains where it mixed with remnant smoke and smoke from prescribed burning covering most of the southeastern US and south over the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico. Moderate to thick smoke also extended over parts of the Pacific off the coast of British Columbia down to California as well as far east from Ontario to the northern Atlantic Ocean. DUST: Light dust was seen moving across the Atlantic Ocean, originating from the Saharan Desert. Moderate to thick density dust was seen just off the coast of West Africa while light dust was seen just entering the southern Caribbean Sea 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