Wednesday, June 29, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 30, 2011

New Mexico/Central and Southern Plains:
A broad area of moderate to dense smoke primarily from two wildfires
burning in New Mexico was seen stretching over much of central and eastern
New Mexico into  southeast Colorado, the Texas Panhandle, and all of
Oklahoma. Two areas of detached moderate density smoke are observed across
the Red River near the Texas/Oklahoma border and another near Big Bend.

US Mid-Atlantic Coast/Offshore:
The Juniper Road wildfire in Pender county in southeast North Carolina
continued to emit moderate to locally dense smoke this evening. Remnant
light density smoke is seen as far north as the North Carolina/Virginia
border and then stretches offshore over the western Atlantic. Extensive
cloudiness has inhibited further detection of smoke boundaries.

Northwest Mexico:
An area of very thin remnant smoke was seen over northwest Mexico and
covering much of the Gulf of California. This is smoke from the numerous
fires in Chihuahua and Durango that have been burning for weeks.

Ontario:
An elongated area of light smoke is observed stretching from northwest
Ontario into south central Ontario (just north of the eastern end of
Lake Superior) moving SSE this evening. This remnant smoke is primarily
from fires in northwest Ontario but the Lake Athabasca vicinity wildfires
are likely contributing, too.

Northern Canada:
Numerous wildfires continue to burn around Lake Athabasca in northern
Alberta/northern Saskatchewan/southern Northwest Territories. An
extensive area of smoke extends mainly to the east and northeast across
far northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, eastern Northwest Territories,
southern Nunavut and all of northern Hudson Bay. An area of moderate
density smoke embedded within this thin density smoke is observed over
eastern Hudson Bay moving south towards James Bay.

Alaska:
An elongated area of thin density remnant smoke from Canadian wildfires
has been recirculated in the polar region and carried south into northeast
Alaska, northern Yukon Territory, and northwest Northern Territories.

Ramirez


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

 


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.