Saturday, August 14, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 15, 2010

Washington:
Dry conditions and an easterly wind have caused old volcanic ash from
Mount St. Helens to be resuspended. The ash is being carried approximately
70 miles to the northwest of the summit.

Pacific Northwest and southwest British Columbia:
Numerous wildfires continue to rage over west central British Columbia
and generate a large area of moderately dense to dense smoke which is
moving to the west into the Pacific then take a more southerly track
west of the Washington and Oregon coasts. This area of smoke extends
over 700 miles from the origin of the fires in British Columbia.

Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:
Several fires were noted in the central Sierra producing light to
moderately dense smoke.

Eastern Canada:
Remnant smoke can still be seen off the coast of Nova Scotia in evening
imagery. This ares of light smoke is slowly drifting southwest.

Yukon:
Several wildfires in southeast Yukon continue to produce moderately dense
to dense plumes of smoke that are moving southeast across northeastern
British Columbia, Alberta and into Minnesota.

MS

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.