DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0003Z July 14, 2010
Western and Central Canada: A significant amount of moderately dense to dense smoke continued to be emitted by many large fires burning primarily over northern Saskatchewan Province of west central Canada. The densest smoke initially moved to the west before fanning out and curving northward over the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories and southern Nunavut Territory. A larger region of thin density smoke surrounded the denser smoke and covered a good portion of western and central Canada. South Central and Southeastern US: An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was noted over the western Gulf of Mexico extending inland over southeastern Texas and eastward from there over the Gulf Coast states to the east and north reaching as far as the Canadian border with Minnesota. Other states effected by this include Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and northern Tennessee. The extent of the aerosol into Canada could not be determined due to clouds in the area. It is uncertain if any smoke is contributing to this aerosol. Earlier on July 13: Pacific Northwest to Northern Plains/South Central Canada: Leftover smoke of very thin density from fires burning mainly in central Washington was visible this morning extending from central Washington eastward across northern Idaho and much of Montana to western North Dakota. The smoke then curved northeastward into the south central Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba before being entrained into a weather system and obscured by cloudiness. Alaska/Northwestern Canada: Widespread cloudiness covered a large portion of central and eastern Alaska during the morning which greatly interfered with fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. A large patch of thin to moderately dense smoke was barely visible through breaks in the clouds over far eastern Alaska extending eastward into the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories. Eastern Canada: Visible imagery this morning also indicated an aerosol of unknown origin and composition across portions of eastern Quebec and Newfoundland provinces. It is possible that some remnant smoke from the fires farther to the west in Canada was contributing to this aerosol, but that cannot be verified. JS/SALEMI 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