DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 19, 2011
Gulf of Mexico: An area of remnant smoke from fires in Florida and Louisiana extends from the panhandle of Florida, through the northeastern Gulf and covers the entire western half of the Gulf of Mexico. North-central US: A broad area of light smoke continues to move through the north-central US. It is moving to the east and is located from the Dakotas, south through Minnesota and into Iowa. This is likely remnant smoke from fires in western Montana and northern Idaho. Wyoming: A large fire near the southeastern portion of Yellowstone National Park is generating dense smoke which is stretching to the east, reaching well into South Dakota. Idaho/Montana: Fires throughout northern Idaho and western Montana continue to generate large amounts of light to moderately dense smoke. California: A fire in the northeastern portion of Modoc County is producing large amounts of moderately dense to dense smoke which is moving northeast into central Oregon. Blowing dust originating from the Baja Peninsula is covering the majority of Imperial County. Nevada: The Ray May fire is emitting moderately dense smoke which extends northwest into central Nevada. Arizona: Blowing dust which appears to be originating from Dolan Springs is moving to the northeast. The full extent of the blowing dust cannot be determined due to cloudiness. Earlier: Mid-Atlantic: An area of light remnant smoke was seen off the mid Atlantic coast extending eastward from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is likely remnant smoke from the Lateral West fire in the Great Dismal Swamp. Clouds over the fire itself are hindering smoke detection through the noon hour. Western Gulf of Mexico/Southeast Texas: An area of light remnant smoke was seen over the region. The area extended south from the Louisiana coast to near 24N93W and was moving the the west-northwest into east Texas. There was a small patch of moderately dense smoke on the leading edge of the larger mass of smoke. This patch was southwest of the Dallas metroplex moving to the northwest. Most of the remnant smoke is likely from fires over Louisiana and the Florida panhandle yesterday. Northern Plains: A broad area of light smoke stretched across much of eastern Montana and North Dakota this morning with the southern extent crossing into northern South Dakota. There was also a small area of moderately dense smoke along the eastern edge moving thru central North Dakota. This is likely remnant smoke from numerous fires last evening burning over western Montana and northern Idaho. Central Plains: A broad area of light remnant smoke was seen over southeast South Dakota extending southward over eastern Nebraska and Kansas and into southwest Missouri. This smoke was generated from the Ray May fire in western Nevada near Lake Tahoe and had drifted east and then mainly south overnight into this morning. Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Colorado: A thin ribbon of light smoke was seen stretching from southeast Idaho into western Wyoming. A patch of smoke was over northeast Utah into northwest Colorado. Both areas were moving to the east and were likely from the Ray May fire in western Nevada. Northern Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula of Michigan: A pair of small, light smoke plumes were seen drifting across northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan along the Lake Michigan shoreline. This is remnant smoke from fires over northwest Minnesota and southern Saskatchewan last evening. Western Atlantic over the Bahamas: A broad area of light blowing dust has made its way westward across the Atlantic from the Sahara and was seen over the northern Bahamas and was slowly lifting north. Ruminski 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