DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z July 3, 2012
Eastern two thirds of the US: A broad area of smoke is observed over much of the nation from the Rockies and Intermountain West eastward to the Atlantic seaboard. The smoke is originating from numerous large wildfires that have been burning for several days to weeks mainly in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Utah. The smoke covers much of the area from eastern Utah through Wyoming and Colorado and then extends into the Plains from the Texas Panhandle to eastern North Dakota through the northern and mid Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley and then dipping to the southeast across the mid Atlantic and Southeast states. The smoke is most dense (moderate to thick) in the vicinity of the fires and across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, northern Illinois and Wisconsin. Blowing dust: An area of blowing dust, likely originating from the Sahara, was seen across portions of the Bahamas and south Florida and into the southeast Gulf of Mexico. An area of blowing dust was seen over northwest Mexico in Sonora state and moving to the northeast. Another small area of blowing dust was noted originating from an area north of Lakeview in southwest Oregon and moving to the east. 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