Saturday, July 16, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 17, 2011

Central and Eastern US:
A large region of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible
across the Central US and extending eastward across the Ohio Valley and
Great Lakes region to the Northeast. It is possible that a small amount of
smoke may still be trapped and circulating around the huge ridge of high
pressure covering a large portion of the middle of the country, though it
is more likely that much of the aerosol is composed of other pollutants.

Southwestern US to the Central Plains:
Thin to moderately dense smoke from at least a couple of wildfires which
continue to burn in western and north central New Mexico was seen in
satellite imagery stretching from New Mexico northeastward over Colorado
and Nebraska. Locally dense smoke was analyzed closer to the wildfires.

Central and Eastern Canada:
Brisk westerly winds fanned numerous wildfires burning over eastern
Manitoba and western and central Ontario during the day resulting in
a very significant expansion in the size of the fires and smoke output
detected in satellite imagery. A huge mass of dense smoke moved to the
east from these fires and covered a good portion of Ontario, the southern
part of Hudson Bay, and western Quebec. Thin to moderately dense smoke
also extended much farther to the east covering most of Quebec and even
extending into the Canadian Maritimes, although cloudiness did interfere
with some smoke detection in this region.

JS

Earlier this Morning...
Northwestern US/Western Canada:
The narrow band of thin density aerosols extending from extreme northeast
Washington northeastward through southern British Columbia/Saskatchewan
and into central Manitoba is still visible this morning.  The source
for this ribbon of possible smoke is still uncertain.

Liddick


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.