Wednesday, July 14, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1330Z 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 north before fanning out and curving eastward and southward 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.
This area of thin density smoke extends as far east as Newfoundland
before it is obscured by cloudiness and satellite limitations.

Central and Eastern 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. Other states effected by this include Oklahoma,
Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois,
Ohio, Kentucky and northern Tennessee. The extent of the aerosol into
Canada could not be determined due to clouds in the area.  The full extent
to the east could not be determined due to satellite coverage limitations.
It is uncertain if any smoke is contributing to this aerosol.

Northwestern US:
An area of light to moderately dense smoke can be seen over eastern
Montana and northwestern North Dakota.  The area of smoke is moving to
the northeast and is likely from the Jefferson fire in southeastern Idaho.

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


 


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.