DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z August 24, 2011
Montana/Wyoming through Northern/Central Plains to Midwest: A very large area of remnant smoke mixed with some new smoke from today can be seen stretching from central and eastern portions of Montana and Wyoming through the northern and parts of the central Plains all the way eastward into Illinois and parts of western Kentucky. A lot of this smoke is moderately dense with a very dense area moving southeastward across portions of southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota and Nebraska. Heavy, dense smoke can also be seen a little further to the west across eastern Montana and eastern Wyoming where the very large fires continue to burn through the southeastern portions of Yellowstone and also into parts of southeastern Montana and southeastern Wyoming. Additionally, fires that are burning through western Montana and northern Idaho are adding to the tremendous amount of remnant smoke through the central part of the country that was seen in this evening's satellite imagery. Pacific Northwest: A couple of detached smoke plumes could be seen through eastern Washington and eastern/central Oregon in satellite imagery this evening. This is due to a number of fires that were burning across this region today. This light to moderately dense smoke is moving eastward and northeastward. Northern Gulf Coast: An elongated area of aerosols mixed with some possible light smoke can be seen through the northern Gulf of Mexico from the southern Louisiana coastline eastward to just off the Florida Panhandle. Current thinking is that this is mostly made up of aerosols and possible haze but with recent fires burning through the southeast and Florida, some light smoke may be mixed in. Blowing Dust: An area of possible Saharan dust can be seen off the south and east coast of the U.S. on the northern side of Hurricane Irene. This is all moving to the northwest. Belge 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