Wednesday, September 9, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z September 10, 2009

Hudson's Bay/Ontario/Quebec/Great Lakes Region:
A mix of haze and thin to moderate density smoke ahead and just behind
a frontal boundary, had moved slowly eastward during the day across
Hudson's Bay and Ontario into western Quebec.  Over the Great Lakes
Region, while some smoke over the U.P. of Michigan and Lake Superior
drifted northeast, weak low level flow from the east pushed smoke over
the region only slightly to the west. Moderate density smoke was seen
over Wisconsin, east Iowa, southwest and northwest Illinois, and over
southern Canada. Most of this remnant smoke/haze is believed to be from
the fires in BC several days ago.

Northern Plains/Midwest to western Kentucky:
As smoke from the Great Lakes region drifted westward today and
clouds along the frontal boundary dissipated over South Dakota,
Nebraska, and Iowa, smoke became more apparent over the region. Thin
smoke stretched from central Minnesota southwest and then west along
the South Dakota/Nebraska border, also extending southeast across
Iowa/Missouri/Illinous/Indiana to western Kentucky. Areas of embedded
moderately dense smoke were seen over s Illinois/northeast Missouri and
over east Nebraska/northwest Iowa.

Oklahoma:
The area of haze seen over parts of Oklahoma/Texas/Arkansas/Mississippi
had mostly disappeared by this evening. The only remaining aerosols
seen were over norther Oklahoma, just south of the Kansas border. The
composition of these aerosols was undetermined.

-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.