DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z July 12, 2009
S Oklahoma/N Texas/E New Mexico: Remnant smoke from the fires in Oklahoma over the past couple of days was well depicted in morning visible satellite imagery. The smoke area covered much of north Texas north of about 31N, with the area tapering off over east Texas near Lufkin. A patch of moderately dense smoke was on the western edge of this mass and extended into east central New Mexico. The northern edge extended just over the Red River into south central and southwest Oklahoma. Eastern Canada: An area of light smoke was seen over the eastern tip of Quebec, southeast Labrador and Newfoundland extending eastward into the Atlantic. This is remnant smoke from wildfires burning over Labrador the past several days. Northern California and Oregon: An area of thin smoke was drifting north from a fire in northern California near the confluence of Humboldt, Trinity and Siskiyou counties. The smoke reached just north of the Columbia river into southwest Washington. British Columbia to Great Lakes: An extensive area of aerosol was seen stretching from the northeast Pacific to the west of Vancouver Island across much of southern British Columbia and Alberta. The plume then gradually narrows and turns to the east-southeast across southern Saskatchewan and northeast Montana, southern Manitoba, North Dakota and Minnesota and across the central and southern Great Lakes. The eastern edge of the discernible plume is near Buffalo, New York. It is believed that this plume is a mixture of smoke from the Alaskan fires and SO2 from the Sarychev volcano. A more detailed and excellent discussion can be found at the University of Maryland smog blog at http://alg.umbc.edu/usaq/ Alaska/Northwest Canada: Remnant and recent smoke from the Alaskan fires was seen over much of southern Alaska, mainly south of the Yukon and east of Sleetmute (southwest of McGrath). The smoke extends into the northern Gulf of Alaska but the full extent is not known due to extensive low cloud cover. A patch of smoek was also noted over the northwest portion of the Northwest Territory to the west of Great Bear Lake. Ruminski More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others can be found at the locations listed below. 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