DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z July 24, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean... A significant amount of mixed density smoke attributed to a combination of numerous wildfires in northern Canada and the Pacific Northwest region and seasonal fire activity throughout the Continental United States continues to be observed today. Areas of light density smoke were seen throughout the majority of the United States, with areas of moderate density smoke concentrated throughout the North Central and Pacific Northwest regions while moderate to thick density smoke was observed throughout northern Canada, the Pacific Northwest and the North Central region of the United States, with the thickest smoke concentrated throughout northern Canada. The thick density smoke observed in northern Canada is attributed to the numerous amounts of large ongoing wildfires that have been producing large plumes of moderate and thick density smoke in previous days, creating a large mass of thick smoke that can be seen stretching east-southeast from the central region of the Northwest Territories to the southeast corner of Manitoba. As the mass of mixed density smoke continued to move east-southeast across Canada and the Continental United States, it was seen as more moderate in density as it moved into the North Central and Great Lakes region of the United States while a band of moderate smoke continued extending to the east through Quebec before dispersing into the northern Atlantic Ocean. Pacific Northwest/Southwest Alberta... An area of moderate to thick density smoke was observed in the Pacific Northwest region attributed to the numerous wildfires located throughout southeast British Columbia, southwest Alberta, Washington State and Oregon. These wildfires ranging from midsize to large have been seen producing moderate to thick localized smoke plumes in previous days and continue to add to the larger area of smoke within the region. A sizable wildfire located in southwest Alberta was seen producing a large plume of thick density smoke that extended northeast in direction, reaching as far as Alberta’s eastern border. DUST: A moderate amount of Saharan dust was observed over the central region of the Atlantic Ocean with light amounts of Saharan dust seen over the eastern part of the Caribbean Sea. Willkens 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