DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z May 21,2023
SMOKE: U.S./Canada/Atlantic Ocean Extending Well off the East Coast of U.S and Canada... An exceptionally large area of smoke of varying density, emanating from the large wildfires occurring mainly in northeastern British Columbia, central and northern Alberta, central and northern Saskatchewan, and the southern part of the Northwest Territories, continues to impact significant portions of Canada, the U.S., and extending off the east coast of the U.S. and eastern Canada all the way to Europe. Very thick density smoke blanketed a sizable part of western and south central Canada with the thick smoke area narrowing into a band which snaked across southern Ontario and southern Quebec before curving to the northeast and eventually off the east coast of Canada over the Labrador Sea. Cloud cover over eastern Canada did make detection in satellite imagery difficult. Very thick smoke also extended down into the U.S. over the Dakotas and the eastern parts of Montana and Wyoming. Somewhat thicker smoke also extended from there to the east over the Great Lakes region. Patches of moderate density smoke were visible over some of the Central Plains, the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley, the Tennessee and Ohio Valley regions, and the Mid-Atlantic region. Finally, some moderate to thick density smoke was present well out over the north Atlantic possibly extending even into some of Europe. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Mexico/Central America/Pacific South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America... An extensive area of thin density smoke linked mainly to the ongoing widespread burning season along with a few wildfires in Mexico and northwestern Central America was detected over much of eastern and southern Mexico, all of northwestern Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well south and southwest off the southern coast of Mexico and Northwest Central America. Cloud cover over portions of southeastern Mexico, northwestern Central America, and some of the Pacific south of the southern coast of Mexico and northwest Central America prevented additional information on the density of the smoke which is likely present there. 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