Monday, August 31, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2000Z August 31, 2009

South Central to Southwest Canada/North and Central Plains/Northwest:
An expansive area of smoke was seen this morning covering a very large
portion of southern Canada, the Northern and Central Plains, parts of
the Midwest, and the western parts of Washington/Oregon. This smoke
was emanating mostly from multiple large wildfires burning in southern
British Columbia. Moderately dense to very dense smoke stretched from
Alberta to Ottawa/western Hudson Bay with another large area stretching
from southern Saskatchewan to North Dakota/Minnesota before wrapping
back into southwest Ontario. Other areas of denser smoke were seen over
the Midwest and from east Montana to western South Dakota.

Southwest/Central and Northern Rockies:
Thin remnant smoke was seen positioned from southern California
across the southwestern US to the High Plains region of eastern
Colorado/Wyoming. From here, thin to moderate density smoke extended
northwestward to northwest Montana/northern Idaho. Most of this smoke is
believed to be from several large fires burning in southern California
including the Station Fire in Los Angeles County, though yesterdays
fires in Utah may have contributed some smoke as well.

-Sheffler

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.