DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 27, 2011
Ontario/Southern Hudson Bay/Western Quebec/Great Lakes Region: Remnant thin to moderately dense smoke was visible during the day moving eastward across the eastern half of Ontario, southern Hudson Bay, and western Quebec. Remnant smoke was also moving southward across the Great Lakes region before wrapping westward across Michigan, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, and Wisconsin. This smoke is mostly from a pair of wildfires in western Ontario with the bulk of the smoke coming from the larger fires northwest of Lake Nipigon. Northwestern and Western and South Central Canada/North Alaska/Northwest US: In addition to the wildfires in northern Alberta and northwest Saskatchewan, numerous wildfires have also started to burn across the Northwest Territories over the last two days. Smoke from all of these wildfires was visible over Arctic ice in the Beaufort Sea and northeast Alaska southeast across northwest Canada earlier this morning. Moderately dense to dense smoke then stretches southward from the fires in north Alberta, northwest Saskatchewan, and southeast Northwest Territories to eastern British Columbia and central Alberta. Moderately dense smoke was also moving to the southeast southern British Columbia, northern Idaho, northwest Montana, southeast Alberta, south Saskatchewan, and into central Manitoba. Southeast US: Thin to moderately dense smoke is present along the coast of the southeast US from northeast Florida to North Carolina. New smoke was being added during the day by the Juniper Road fire in eastern North Carolina. Smoke was also seen from wildfires along the coast of southern Alabama, the western Florida panhandle, and far southern Mississippi that was fanning out in multiple directions. Remnant smoke from these fires was also visible inland across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Central and Southern Plains/Northwest Mexico: Remnant smoke was still seen over portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. Most of this smoke is believed to be from fires in Arizona, New Mexico, and northwest Texas although the numerous fires in northwestern Mexico may have also contributed. An enormous fire erupted this afternoon just west of Los Alamos in north central New Mexico resulting in a huge plume of dense smoke which moved eastward into the northwestern Texas and western Oklahoma panhandle. Remnant smoke from the Mexican fires could be seen moving west and northwest this morning. The remnant thin smoke from the Mexican fires also then moved to the north and eventually northeast across southern Arizona. A patch of thin density blowing dust was visible late this afternoon moving to the east-northeast across northeastern Arizona and the 4 corners region into northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Another patch of thin density blowing dust was moving north across western Texas from sources just northeast of Midland. JS/Sheffler THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE 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 ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov