DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1845Z September 1, 2009
Southern Canada/North and Central Plains/Midwest: Remnant smoke was seen covering a very large portion of southern Canada, the Northern and Central Plains, parts of the Midwest. Most of this smoke is remnant from multiple large wildfires that have been burning in southern British Columbia and southwest Alberta over the past few days. Smoke stretched west to east from British Columbia to southwest Quebec, as far north as central Hudson's Bay, and as far south as Kentucky, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Areas of moderately dense to very dense smoke were present, mostly along and north of the US/Canadian border with one of the largest areas of very dense smoke northwest of Lake Superior. Southern California to Colorado/Central to Southern Plains: Remnant smoke continued to be pulled northeastward across the Southwestern US by the strong upper low in place across Montana. The smoke spread out as it reached eastern Colorado wrapping northward into the upper low and also southeastward/southward over the Southern Plains. Most of this smoke has originated from the large wildfires burning in Southern California though other fires, such as those in Utah/northwest Colorado yesterday, likely contributed some smoke as well. Moderately dense to very dense smoke was present in two areas, one from the Utah/Nevada border to northwestern Colorado and the other from western South Dakota to eastern Colorado to the Oklahoma panhandle. Western Oregon: A small area of thin remnant smoke was present over northwest Oregon this morning. This smoke was probably trapped in the valley and is likely left over from local fires yesterday or possibly from the fires in British Columbia. -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