Thursday, August 18, 2011

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

 


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.