DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z July 12, 2025
SMOKE: Alaska/Canada/North-Central United States/Atlantic Ocean... Wildfires continued to burn across much of northern North America, from Northwestern Alaska to northern Ontario. The fires across this area are producing moderate to thick smoke that extends from the Chukchi Sea to at least ad far east as Iceland and the Norwegian Sea. The thickest smoke production is emanating from fires across central Saskatchewan and central Manitoba, with thick smoke also seen from a large wildfire near the Yukon/NW Territory/BC triple point and from wildfire activity in Alaska. Smoke from fires in Alaska is moving west-northwest before quickly shifting eastward across far northern Alaska. From there, smoke across mcuh of Canada was moving east to east-southeastward. This changes some over the Davis Strait, where smoke is then drawn northeastward then south around a ridge over the Davis Strait and southwestern Greenland. The smoke continues east-southeastward thereafter until rounding the base of a cyclone in the Denmark Strait that draws the smoke northward over Iceland and out over the Norwegian Sea. A large area of remnant smoke is concentrating over southeastern Saskatchewan, far northeastern Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, southern Manitoba, much of Ontario, western Quebec and the Davis Strait (and likely along the southwestern coast of Greenland as well with cloud cover obscuring the full extent there). Some of the analyzed smoke over the north Atlantic off the NE CONUS coast may also include some Saharan Dust. Western CONUS… Isolated to widespread wildfire activity was observed across much of the mountainous areas of the western CONUS. At least one smoke producing fire is observed in each state along and west of the Rocky Mountains. Much of the smoke from these fires is moving off toward the east to southeast, with the exception of smoke production across northern California where movement is more variable (NW to E). The thickest smoke producers are in northern Arizona with other prolific smoke producers along the UT/CO border, New Mexico, and northern California. BLOWING DUST: Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean Sea/Sargasso Sea/Bahamas/Gulf Stream… Saharan Dust was observed extending westward from the Saharan Desert across the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Sargasso Sea to at least as far west as western Cuba, southern Florida, and the Bahamas. Some of this dust is being drawn northward then northeastward between the Carolina Coast and Bermuda. Far southwestern New Mexico/Chihuahua… Dust was observed being lofted from multiple spots within the Chihuahuan Desert in southwestern New Mexico and northern Chihuahua. One spot is a dry lake bed in far southwestern New Mexico from which dust is being blown east-southeastward toward the sandier areas of the Chihuahuan Desert. From there, copious amounts of dust were observed being lofted and transported southeastward then southward into central Chihuahua. Sonora/Southern Arizona… More blowing dust was observed being lofted from near the coast of western Sonora, perhaps even into extreme southwestern Arizona, this afternoon that was then being transported northeastward across central Sonora into central and western Arizona. Hosley 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:http://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