DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z October 11, 2024
SMOKE: Northern California/Pacific Northwest/Great Plains/Northern Great Lakes/Western Gulf of Mexico… Wildfire activity across the Western CONUS from northern California to Montana and Wyoming continues to produce moderate to thick smoke that is feeding a larger area of light to perhaps moderate remnant smoke over the Great Plains, western Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican Coastal Plain, the Bay of Campeche, and the Yucatan. Some of the depth of smoke can also be attributed to agricultural burning in the Mississippi Valley (see below). The thickest observed smoke emissions are emanating from wildfire activity in Idaho, while the thickest remnant smoke can be seen over eastern Colorado. It should be noted that the presence of a frontal system is producing cloud cover stretching from central California and Nevada northeastward to southern Manitoba. This is likely obscuring at least some wildfire activity and smoke production across southern Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and much of Montana. The smoke across far eastern Washington and into Big Sky Country was moving east to east-northeastward while smoke across the rest of Washington State, Oregon, and northern California was generally moving northward. Remnant smoke over the central CONUS was generally moving eastward. Southeastern CONUS/Mississippi Valley/Ozarks/Ohio Valley… Small agricultural burns from the Missouri Bootheel to the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast and southwestern Georgia were seen producing mainly light smoke plumes that were generally moving southwestward across eastern Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama while smoke in far northeastern Arkansas and the Missouri Bootheel was moving west to northwest. Isolated smoke production from western Missouri, western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma was also moving northwestward. Scattered smoke production was also seen across southern Indiana and central Kentucky with smoke moving south to southwestward. Sacramento Valley… Likely agricultural burning in the northern Sacramento Valley was observed producing light to moderate density smoke that was moving north-northeastward. 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