DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1725Z July 25, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/United States/Northern Mexico/Pacific Ocean/Atlantic Ocean... A significant amount of mixed density smoke attributed to a combination of seasonal fire activity throughout the United States and numerous wildfires in northern Canada, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest region continues to be observed today. Light density smoke was seen throughout the majority of the United States, extending east-southeast from Alaska and the Bering Sea into the northern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Washington State and Oregon. The light density smoke continued moving east across northern Canada and the United States, extending south along the West Coast, reaching northern Mexico, before extending east through the Gulf States and eventually dispersing into the northern Atlantic Ocean. Areas of moderate density smoke were seen throughout Alaska, Canada and the central United States, while areas with the thickest density smoke were were concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Midwest region of the United States. The large mass of thick density smoke concentrated throughout these areas was seen stretching east-southeast from the Alaska to central Ontario, becoming more moderate to light in density as it moved into the Midwest region and Northeastern regions of the United States, however, two bands of moderate smoke continued extending east through Quebec and the Northeast United States before dispersing into the northern Atlantic Ocean past the southern tip of Greenland. Pacific Northwest... An area of moderate to thick density smoke attributed to numerous wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest was observed today despite heavy cloud cover in the region. Multiple wildfires located throughout southeast British Columbia, Washington State and Oregon, ranging from midsize to large, have been seen producing moderate to thick plumes in previous days and continue to add to the larger area of smoke within the region. A newly ignited fire located in north-central California was seen producing a large plume of moderate to thick density smoke that extended northeast in direction, reaching as far as central Idaho. Although heavy cloud cover throughout areas of the Pacific Northwest region was present this morning, based on previous smoke analysis and observations it can be presumed that there is thick smoke present in the area but is concealed by today’s cloud cover. DUST: A significant amount of Saharan dust was observed over the Atlantic Ocean with light amounts seen over the eastern part 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