DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 5, 2013
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US/Canadian Maritimes: An area of unknown aerosol stretched from Newfoundland southwest across Nova Scotia and along/over the coast of the Northeast US and then inland across the Mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia. The aerosol was generally moving east/southeast behind the offshore frontal boundary. A very optically thick area of aerosol stretched almost 600 miles from central Virginia to Cape Cod, MA just before sunset this evening. South Central and Southeast US: A large amount of haziness/unknown aerosol was seen across much of the South Central and Southeastern US. The hazy look extended from central Texas/Oklahoma east to the Atlantic Ocean off of South Carolina/Georgia. Some remnant smoke may make up part of the composition of aerosol over northeast Texas but it can no longer be discerned from the rest of the mix. Canada/Great Lakes Region: A large area of light to moderate density smoke stretches from the Arctic Ocean/northeast Alaska/Yukon and Northwest Territories south and southeast across central Canada/western Hudson Bay to the Great Lakes region where thin smoke was seen over parts of Lake Superior, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the U.P. of Michigan this evening. This smoke is from fires that have been burning across Alaska, northwest Canada, and central Canada recently. Pacific Northwest: Light to moderate density smoke from continuing fires in southwest Oregon, Northern California, southeast Washington, central Idaho, and western Wyoming stretched from the Pacific Coast eastward to the Dakotas/southern Saskatchewan. Dense smoke was present near the fire sources especially in southwest Oregon, northwest California. Caribbean Sea/Bahamas/Southern Florida/Southern Gulf of Mexico: An expansive area of Saharan overs the entire Caribbean and stretches from the Leeward Islands westward to the Bay of Campeche. The dust extends north to south from far southern Florida to South America. It continues to slowly move west. Sheffler THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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