Wednesday, July 12, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z July 12, 2023

SMOKE:
Canada/United States/Northern Mexico/Atlantic Ocean/Eastern Pacific
Ocean...
Major wildfires continue to burn across portions of Canada with the most
significant concentrations seen in western Quebec to the southeast of
Hudson Bay, and in western and northwestern Canada. Thick to very thick
smoke is visible this morning covering much of western and northwestern
Canada with some of the thicker smoke extending to the south and
southeast across the far northern portions of Washington, Idaho, and
Montana. Farther to the east, cloud cover over portions of Quebec is
limiting some information on the extent and density of the smoke in that
region through satellite imagery though thicker smoke was noted wrapping
around a low pressure system circulation over central and northwestern
Quebec and Hudson Bay to north central Canada. A patch of moderate
to thick density smoke was also seen over the Atlantic off the coast
of southeastern Canada. An area of moderately dense smoke mainly from
the Quebec fires also covered some of the central Appalachian region,
a good part of the northeastern U.S. and extended offshore from there
over the nearby far western Atlantic. The exceptionally large surrounding
area of thin density smoke associated mostly with the Canadian wildfires
covers a sizable portion of Canada and the U.S. including eastern Alaska,
as well as northern Mexico, much of the central and northern Atlantic,
and some of the eastern Pacific off the coastal areas of Alaska and
western Canada as well as off the coast of southern California and Baja.

DUST:
Caribbean Region and the Western Atlantic Ocean…
An area of thin density Saharan Dust was seen stretching from around the
Yucatan Peninsula eastward over the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, the Bahamas,
Hispaniola, and near and just north of Puerto Rico. From there the dust
became thicker and extended well across the tropical Atlantic.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.