Thursday, August 19, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z August 20, 2010

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS TEXT DISCUSSION:
The vast expanse of smoke described earlier across much of southern
Canada and the northern tier of the US is still in place this evening in
roughly the same areas as described below. Additional moderate to dense
smoke was being pulled north into central and northern Saskatchewan and
northeast Alberta by a deep cyclone over the region.

Pacific Northwest:
An area of light remnant smoke was mixing with light to moderate smoke
from active fires over Oregon and Washington and covered much of northern
Oregon, the eastern half of Washington, northern Idaho and extending
into northwest Montana.

Central Sierra Nevada:
Light remnant smoke is seen over portions of the central Sierra from
fires in the vicinity. The prevailing winds are weak and little movement
of the smoke is noted.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOR SMOKE THROUGH 1700Z 8/19:
Southern half of Canada and the Northern Tier of the US:
A vast amount of smoke, primarily from numerous large wildfires raging
in central to west central British Columbia, stretches nearly the entire
breadth of southern Canada and dipping into portion of the northern
US. Large areas of moderately dense to dense smoke are seen over the
southern half of British Columbia and central Alberta. The smoke then
fans out to cover most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, although cloud cover
hinders accurate placement and extent of the smoke from eastern Alberta
through Saskatchewan. The smoke is becomes mainly thin to moderately
dense in Manitoba and western Ontario. Smoke over northeast Saskatchewan,
northern Manitoba and northwest Ontario is likely from wildfires burning
across northern Saskatchewan.

The smoke also dips south into the northern Plains of the US over
North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and across the Great Lakes. A band
of moderately dense to dense smoke is contained within this area and
extends from south central Saskatchewan across northeast North Dakota,
northern Minnesota and into northern Wisconsin.

There appeared to be a small break in the smoke over the eastern Great
Lakes before another pulse of smoke from the British Columbia fires was
observed over the St Lawrence Valley, mainly over southern Quebec and
mainland Labrador with a little spillover into northern Maine. Most of
this smoke area was light, but there was a patch of moderately dense to
dense over southern Quebec just north of Maine.

Pacific Northwest:
A few patches of very thin smoke were seen over north central Oregon,
northern Idaho and into extreme northwest Montana, drifting to the
east. The source of the smoke is not clear but is likely from fires
yesterday in northern Oregon and Washington.

Southern California/Southwest Arizona:
A patch of light smoke was seen drifting to the east across extreme
southeast California into southwest Arizona. This is remnant smoke from
fires along the California Mexico border.

Northern British Columbia:
An area of light to moderately dense smoke was observed over northeast
British Columbia which is remnant smoke from fires burning over the
northwest portion of the province. This smoke was moving to the east
southeast.

Northwest Territories:
A narrow ribbon of thin smoke was aligned in a north to south orientation
and extended from north central Northwest Territories northward off the
Arctic coast and reached to just off the west coast of Banks Island.

Ruminski


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.