DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1715Z July 16, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Gulf of Mexico/Pacific Ocean/Atlantic Ocean... A significant amount of mixed density smoke attributed to a combination of seasonal fire activity in the United States and numerous wildfires throughout northern Canada, Washington State, Oregon, California, Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Arizona covered an extensive area including northern Canada, the majority of the Continental United States and parts of the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast of the U.S. and Mexico. This mixed density smoke was seen extending east through the entirety of Canada from the Yukon Province into the Labrador Sea before extending further east into the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Areas of moderate density smoke were seen moving east from the central region of the Northwest Territories into northeast British Columbia and through Alberta, reaching central Manitoba. A mass of heavy density smoke was also observed originating from the wildfires present in northern Canada extending east-southeast within the larger area where moderate smoke was seen, however, the thick smoke remained within the boundaries of the central parts of the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Areas of light to moderate density smoke were continue to be seen covering an expansive area that extends south from the Canada-U.S. Border through the majority of the U.S. and into the northwest area of the Gulf of Mexico. Western United States... Moderate to thick density smoke attributed to numerous ongoing wildfires throughout the Western United States was observed this morning covering a widespread area within the region. Several large ongoing wildfires located within the southern Yukon region, Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and Montana continue to observed emitting plumes of moderate and thick density smoke that has begun to accumulate into a significant mass of thick density smoke that was seen moving northeast through Idaho while remaining mostly within the state lines. DUST: A moderate amount of Saharan dust was observed over the Atlantic Ocean with light amounts of Saharan dust seen over the majority of the Caribbean Sea. Willkens 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