DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z September 2, 2023
SMOKE: Canada/US Great Plains and Western Gulf of Mexico/Northeast Pacific Ocean/Northwest Atlantic Ocean... Numerous plumes of dense smoke were observed being emitted from the persistent wildfires across British Columbia, Alberta, and Northwest Territories. Remnant smoke of moderate to high density extended across much of provincial Canada as far east as Nova Scotia, where a swirl of moderate smoke also covered much of New England. Light smoke could be seen across virtually all of Canada, the Pacific Northwest U.S., the Great Plains, and the northwestern Great Lakes region. California/Oregon… Clouds continued to largely obscure likely areas of smoke from fires in northwestern California. However, some light to moderate smoke was observed in cloud-free areas of the Central Valley, including an area north of Sacramento and further south between Merced and Bakersfield. Lower Mississippi Valley/Western Gulf Coast/Oklahoma/Kansas... Numerous agricultural and other fires were observed producing smoke in eastern Arkansas, southwestern Louisiana, coastal Texas, central Oklahoma, and southern Kansas. These fires were largely confined to emitting light-density smoke, although several fires, including one near the Kansas/Oklahoma border, a few near the mouth of the Sabine River in Texas and Louisiana, and one in east Texas, were producing smoke of moderate to high density. DUST: Eastern/Central Atlantic… A layer of Saharan dust was observed stretching from the Sahara westward across the tropical Atlantic to near the Windward Islands in the eastern Caribbean. The layer is approximately south of 30N east of 40W and south of 20W of 40W. MTC 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