DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z October 14, 2023
SMOKE: Northwestern and North Central Canada… A large area of wildfires scattered across portions of British Columbia, Alberta, and the south central part of the Northwest Territories continue to burn at relatively low intensity resulting in a large swath of primarily thin density smoke which extends from northeastern British Columbia and northern Alberta to the northeast and east across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and northern Ontario, reaching Hudson Bay before becoming obscured by cloud cover. Very localized thicker density smoke was seen closer to some of the fire activity in northwestern Canada. Ohio Valley/Mid-Atlantic Region/Far Western Atlantic… An area of mostly thin density smoke attributed in part to long range transport from the ongoing northwestern Canada wildfires and to recently daily seasonal fire activity primarily over the Mid-Mississippi Valley region including southeast Missouri and northeastern Arkansas was visible extending from the Ohio Valley eastward to the Mid-Atlantic region and offshore of the Mid-Atlantic region and the northeastern U.S. over the far western Atlantic. Western Oregon/Western Washington/California/Western British Columbia… Numerous scattered fires over the western U.S. from California northward over Oregon and Washington to southwestern British Columbia. The majority of this activity was believed to be seasonal prescribed/controlled burning. Smoke detection though was significant hindered through satellite imagery due to cloudiness spreading over the region. SMOKE/AEROSOLS: Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Eastern Mexico/Far Western Caribbean/Northern Central America… Patches of mainly thin density smoke/aerosol were present over some of eastern Mexico, the southwestern, south central, and central Gulf of Mexico, and the Bay of Campeche, along with the far western Caribbean Sea, and northern Central America. Embedded more concentrated moderate density smoke/aerosol was seen over the far western Caribbean Sea and a portion of southeastern Mexico extending northward into the Bay of Campeche. 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. The contribution from industrial activities is believed to be more significant than smoke from seasonal fire activity. Earlier Today: SMOKE/DUST: South Central U.S… A swath of thin density smoke, possible linked to fires in Arizona, was visible this morning stretching from east central New Mexico to the east and northeast over northwestern Texas, Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, and western Missouri. It is also possible that remnant blowing dust may be present in this region which was kicked up by stronger winds yesterday blowing across some of the south central and southwestern U.S. YL 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