Saturday, July 9, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z July 10, 2011

Southeast US/Gulf of Mexico/Southern Mississippi River Valley::
Thin to moderate density smoke covered much of the southern portion of
the Mississippi River Valley, the Southeast US, and the northeast Gulf
of Mexico. This smoke is the result mainly of numerous fires in the
Southeast US with those along the coast of southern Louisiana producing
the most dense smoke this evening.

Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US:
An unknown aerosol was producing hazy conditions along the coast of the
Northeast stretching southwest across the Mid-Atlantic over New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, northeast North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Southern Plains/Southwest to Ohio Valley/Midwest/Northern Plains:
A large area of thin to moderate density remnant smoke covered
much of the Central US this evening from New Mexico/northwest
Texas/southeast Colorado northeast to the Ohio Valley and northward to
the Dakotas/Minnesota/southwest Ontario/east Manitoba. The bulk of this
smoke is believed to have come from the Las Conchas/Pacheco wildfires
in northern New Mexico, although fires in Kansas/Oklahoma and in the
Southeast US also likely contributed.

Northern California to Montana/South Central Canada:
Thin remnant smoke possibly mixed with other aerosols could be seen
across the Northwestern US this evening. This smoke is believed
to have come from fires in north California and northeast Oregon
yesterday. Additional aerosol seen over northern Montana/south
Alberta/south Saskatchewan/southwest Manitoba not analyzed as a
remnant smoke mixture is believed to the result of blowing/elevated
dust particles.

Southeast California/Southwest Arizona:
A small amount of blowing dust could be seen along the California/Arizona
border mixed with smoke from several ag fires in the region. This blowing
dust was generally moving northeast and east.

Northwest Canada:
Thin smoke can be seen slowly migrating east across the Northwest
Territories and mainland Nunavut. This remnant smoke is from several
wildfires burning in the Northwest Territories, some of which were
producing new smoke this evening.

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

 


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.