Monday, June 1, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z June 2, 2009


Great Lakes Region:
The area of what was believed to be remnant thin smoke leftover from the
fires burning yesterday over eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota
which had been visible this morning moving eastward across Wisconsin,
the upper peninsula of Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan,
was no longer discernible in satellite imagery early this evening.

Mid Atlantic Region:
A band with a hazy appearance continued to be observed in visible
satellite imagery early this evening stretching from southern Virginia and
the Carolinas eastward to the coast and offshore over the Atlantic. It
is unknown if any remnant smoke is contributing to this large area
of aerosol.

Southern and southwestern Canada/Northern Montana/Northern North Dakota:
Visible imagery this evening showed a large mass of aerosol of unknown
origin and composition extending from around Lake Winnipeg across the
southern portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta provinces of
Canada as well as far northern North Dakota and northern Montana. The
area of aerosol then curved northward across much of Alberta Province
of western Canada toward the Great Slave Lake.

JS


THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL 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.