Friday, October 20, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0058Z October 21, 2023

SMOKE:
Northwestern and North Central Canada…
An area of wildfires returned today scattered across the usual portions
of British Columbia, Alberta, and the south central part of the Northwest
Territories. Most of these wildfires are generally burning at relatively
low intensity resulting in a swath of primarily thin density smoke
which extends over the immediate area and slowly moved to the east this
evening. Numerous fires were detected in British Columbia but due to
cloud cover in the area much of the smoke could not be analyzed.

California…
A cluster of fires in  northern half of California could be seen
producing mostly two patches of light density smoke engulfing northern
California. Numerous fires were detected in Oregon and Washington but
due to cloud cover in the area much of the smoke could not be analyzed.

Southeastern/South-Central US/Gulf of Mexico…
An area of mostly thin density smoke attributed daily seasonal fire
activity primarily over eastern Texas, Louisiana southeastern Missouri,
and eastern Arkansas. The smoke was visible extending from eastern Texas
eastward through portions of the southeastern U.S. into Alabama and
then it moved south over the northern Gulf of Mexico. Moderate density
smoke was seen over eastern Texas, Louisiana, and southeastern Missouri,
most of the dense smoke was moving southeast as evening approached.

North Dakota/Saskatchewan/Manitoba…
Seasonal burning in North Dakota, southern Saskatchewan, and southern
Manitoba created an area of light density smoke around the surrounding
area. Some of these fires were producing moderate density smoke plumbs
as evening approached.

Arizona/New Mexico…
Scattered wildfire activity from northern Arizona and southwestern New
Mexico were observed producing light to moderate density smoke plumes
with the smoke moving generally to the east. In Arizona several of the
plumes combined to cover the northeastern portion of Arizona.


Eglin


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.