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