DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z October 12, 2023
SMOKE: Northwestern and North Central Canada… Wildfires are still burning in parts of British Columbia, Alberta, and the southern portion of the Northwest Territories in Canada resulting in a large mass of generally thin density smoke which impacted east central British Columbia, northern and central Alberta, the southern and eastern portion of the Northwest Territories, and some of Nunavut. Locally thicker smoke was seen closer to some of the wildfire activity especially with a larger wildfire in east central British Columbia and the clusters of wildfires in north central Alberta. Area from the Mid-Mississippi Valley Region to the Mid-Atlantic Region and Northeast… An area of mainly thin density leftover smoke attributed in part to long range transport from the ongoing northwestern Canada wildfires and to recently daily seasonal fire activity primarily over the central, south central and southeastern U.S. was visible this morning extending from the Mid-Mississippi Valley region eastward to the northeastern U.S. and the Mid-Atlantic region. Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Eastern Mexico/Far Western Caribbean/Northern Central America… Patches of mainly thin density smoke/aerosol were present this morning over some of eastern Mexico, the southwestern and south central Gulf of Mexico, and the Bay of Campeche, along with the far western Caribbean Sea, and northern Central America. This smoke/aerosol combination is believed to be due to some seasonal fire activity scattered in parts of eastern Mexico and northern Central America, emissions from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche, and pollutants released from industrial activity in the region. DUST: South Central U.S… Possible leftover thin density blowing dust was seen in satellite imagery this morning over western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and northwestern and western Texas. This possible leftover blowing dust may have been kicked up by stronger winds blowing across some of southeastern Colorado, eastern New Mexico, and western Texas. 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