Sunday, August 26, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1900 August 26, 2012

Northwest US/Northern and CentralPlains/Ontario/Quebec:
An extensive area of smoke stretches across much of the Northwestern
and Central US this morning as smoke from numerous large western US
wildfires spreads eastward and southward. Remnant smoke stretched
southward to the Oklahoma/Texas Panhandles and northeast across the
Upper Midwest/Ontario to southern Hudson Bay. Though partially cloudy,
thin smoke could then be seen stretched eastward across southern Quebec,
northern Maine, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. The most dense smoke
exists over eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming, and western and central
South Dakota just downstream of numerous wildfires in Idaho, Montana,
and Wyoming. Other smaller areas of moderately dense to dense smoke exist
closer to their origination points from fires in northern California,
Oregon, and Washington.

Western Canada:
A few pockets of thin remnant smoke were seen swirling around parts of
the Northwest Territories, Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan/southern
Manitoba. This smoke is probably from fires that had been burning in
the southwest corner of Northwest Territories and northwest Alberta
over the past few days. The smoke was pulled southward around the base
of an upper level trough over central Canada and could be seen crossing
into the US over northeast Montana, northern North Dakota, and northern
Minnesota where it mixes with smoke from the western US wildfires.

Sheffler


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.