DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 5, 2023

SMOKE:
United States, including Alaska, Canada, Atlantic Ocean and North
Pacific Ocean….
Wildfires over Alaska, western Canada, the Pacific Northwest of
U.S. continued to produce a very large area of smoke that extends
from Alaska through Yukon and Northwest Territories and over most of
Canada. In the U.S. moderate smoke was seen previously over northern
U.S however cloud cover prevented further analysis in regions such as
northwest U.S, the Rockies, Northern Central Plains, and parts of the
Great Lakes region. Thick smoke is seen extending through the Northwest
territories and into northern/central Alberta and Saskatchewan. This
smoke is mostly from the Alaska, northern Canada wildfires. Patches of
thick density smoke were also observed over northeast Hudson Bay and
eastern Nunavut as well as southeast British Columbia. The wildfires
in southeast British Columbia producing the patches of thick density
smoke likely extended south into the U.S states of Washington and Idaho
underneath the cloud cover as well as contributing to the larger area
of moderate smoke engulfing Canada and parts of the U.S.

DUST:
Atlantic Ocean…
Moderate to high density Saharan dust continues to progress off
the African coast and extending west into the eastern and central
Atlantic ocean. This dust is now encroaching the Lesser Antilles from
the northeast.

Nguyen



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.