Wednesday, August 25, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 26, 2010

Western US

Oregon:
Multiple wildfires across western/central Oregon are producing moderately
dense to very dense smoke northeast across parts of central Oregon
and into southern Washington state.  Moderately dense smoke from these
wildfires is extending into eastern Washington.

Idaho:
Multiple wildfires burning across central/northern Idaho are producing
moderately dense to very dense smoke moving east NE into most of western
Montana.  There are some small fires in southern Idaho producing light
smoke with some reaching section of southwest Montana.

A large are of light residual smoke with pockets of moderately dense
associated with the wildfires across the western US extends over a large
area ranging from most of Oregon/Washington east into Idaho/Montana and
into southern Canada (Alberta/British Columbia).

Louisiana/Texas:
A large fire burning in Cameron county in Southwest Louisiana is producing
a large area of very heavy smoke earlier this evening that stretched
over a 100 km from source into the Gulf of Mexico.
A large fire just west of the Cameron county fire in Texas (border of
Orange and Jefferson counties) produced a large area of moderately dense
to dense smoke extending south into the Gulf of Mexico.

Earlier Today:

Central/Eastern Canada/Northern Tier US:
Large area of residual smoke from wildfires burning in British Columbia
during the past week is moving across a large area of Central/Eastern
Canada and Northern US. Within this large area of smoke is a pocket
of dense smoke moving east SE across eastern/central North Dakota,
central/southern Minnesota and into west central Wisconsin.  A pocket
of moderately dense smoke stretches from eastern Alberta southeastward
across southern Saskatchewan into central North Dakota, central/southern
Minnesota, across central/southern Wisconsin and into west central
Michigan (across central Lake Michigan).  A small section of this smoke
does extend into extreme northeast South Dakota.  The lighter smoke
extends as far north as eastern Hudson Bay/northwest Quebec.

Central Canada:
Another area of light residual smoke (most likely source is wildfires
in Alaska) is moving southward across southeast Northwest Territories,
southern Nunavut (along western edge of Hudson Bay) and south into
Manitoba and small western sliver of Ontario.

Eastern TX/Southwest LA:
A small area of light smoke can be seen moving south from eastern TX/SW
LA towards the Gulf of Mexico. This smoke most likely is from numerous
fires burning along the Mississippi River.

Southeast Washington and Southwest Montana:
A patch of light to moderately dense smoke can be seen in southeast
Washington into northwest Idaho. Another patch of light smoke can be seen
in southwestern Montana. Both areas of smoke are moving northeast and
originate from fires burning in west/central Oregon and throughout Idaho.

J Kibler


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.