DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z August 28, 2024
Corrected to add Blowing Dust section for Washington State SMOKE: Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean... Light smoke was seen blanketing an area from northern and central Canada to the eastern CONUS, eastern Canada, and the North Atlantic. Thick, active smoke emissions were seen emanating from wildfire activity across northern Saskatchewan and moving northeastward. Moderate Density smoke was seen moving north-northwestward from the same activity earlier in the day with a plumes seen between breaks in cloud cover into southern Nunavut and southeastern Northwest Territory. Some smoke can be inferred further north to the Canadian Archipelago as very light smoke was seen moving southeast across the Canadian Archipelago and then south across Hudson Bay. Smoke was also observed ahead (eastward) of a storm system stretching from the Davis Strait to the Great Lakes. This smoke is remnant from this activity coupled with other activity across Western North America. The smoke was being shunted southward and eastward across eastern CONUS. Smoke was also seen over the Canadian Maritimes and a good portion of the rest of the North Atlantic. A small portion of some of the Atlantic smoke may have a small contribution of Saharan Dust as well. Some small contributions are also added from agricultural burns across the southeastern CONUS as well. Some fire and smoke activity may be obscured by cloud cover over northern and western Canada as well. Northwestern CONUS… Wildfire activity mainly in central Idaho was observed producing thick smoke this afternoon and evening. The smoke from this activity was being drawn east-northeastward across Montana and perhaps just into far southwestern Alberta and far southern Saskatchewan. Some of this smoke from previous days is also contributing to the remnant smoke across the eastern CONUS described above. DUST: Tropical Atlantic… Saharan Dust was seen extending westward from the African coast to the central Caribbean Sea, Hispaniola, and into the Central Atlantic. Dust of moderate density was seen as far west as about 57W. Washington State… Moderate blowing dust was seen in the wake of a frontal passage across the Columbia Basin of Washington State. Dust was observed being lofted from agricultural areas in the northern Columbia Basin and transported the the east to east-southeast about as far as the Idaho state line. Hosley 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