Sunday, August 16, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z August 17, 2009

California and the Southwest:
Remnant smoke has mixed with new smoke from the active fires in California
- the 'Yuba' fire along the Yuba/Nevada county border, the 'Shu Lightning'
fire in Shasta county and the 'Lockheed' fire in Santa Cruz county. Thin
smoke covers much of the central Valley with moderately dense to dense
smoke in the vicinity of the fires.

Moderately dense to dense smoke from the 'La Brea' fire in northern Santa
Barbara county is seen drifting south over the Channel Islands and then
shifting eastward toward the Los Angeles basin. The smoke thins out
as it stretches across much of southern California and across central
Arizona into northwest New Mexico.

New England/New York/Ontario/Quebec:
An area of mainly thin smoke was seen from Lake Huron and Lake Erie
eastward across New York, northern Pennsylvania, New England, New Jersey,
southeast Ontario and southwest Quebec. This is believed to be remnant
smoke from the western fires and possibly from Alaska. There is also
likely haze mixed in with the smoke.

Bering Sea:
The leading edge of a large area of smoke, some of which is dense, was
seen moving into the western Bering Sea. The smoke is from large fires
burning in Siberia.

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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.