DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z September 25, 2011
Southern Canada/Northwest US: Thin density smoke covers much of northern Wyoming, central and eastern Montana, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southwest Manitoba this morning. An elongated patch of moderate to thick density smoke is observed stretching north-south over central Montana, and a round area of moderate density smoke is observed in southwest Saskatchewan. This smoke originated from wildfires in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Central Plains: An area of what is presumed to be mainly remnant smoke is present in the central plains over the far eastern Dakotas, southern Minnesota, all of Iowa, northern Missouri, and western portions of Illinois and Wisconsin. The smoke density is difficult to discern due to a high level cloud shield associated with low pressure system in the area, but gaps in the clouds as well as aerosol optical depth measurements indicate that the smoke is of thin to moderate density. The origin of this smoke is from several large wildfires located in Idaho and Wyoming that were producing heavy smoke yesterday and days prior. Ramirez 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