Thursday, July 18, 2024

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z July 18, 2024

SMOKE:
Canada/United States/Atlantic Ocean...
A significant amount of mixed density smoke attributed to a combination
of seasonal fire activity in Canada and the United States has produced a
large mass of observable smoke. Starting from the Northeastern province
of British Columbia and then mixing with smoke from various regional
wildfires, a large mass of smoke (ranging from light to heavy density)
stretched across the northern continental plain before dispersing into
the Atlantic Ocean. As the mass moved towards the east, light to moderate
density smoke was observed dispersing down from Canada into the USA,
covering almost the majority of the Continental United States.

Northwest U.S. ...
Most of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California had significant
amounts of moderate to heavy density smoke emitting towards the E-NE
towards Canada.

AEROSOL/SMOKE:
Central-Southern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Central
America/Cuba/Hispaniola/Pacific Ocean...
A large area of predominantly light to moderate smoke attributed to
widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central-southern Mexico,
Yucatan Peninsula, Central America and northern South America was observed
today over southern Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Gulf of Mexico, Central
America, and the Pacific Ocean off the southern coastline of Mexico,
and east over the northern Caribbean Sea. Moderate smoke was visible over
the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America. Aerosols from a composite of
volcanic emissions and industrial sources in Mexico contributed to the
expansive area of aerosol/smoke seen in these regions today.

DUST:
A moderate amount of Saharan dust was seen moving westward into the
Atlantic Ocean, a lighter amount of Saharan dust was seen moving into
the eastern Caribbean Sea toward Puerto Rico.

Rodriguez

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