DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z June 04, 2014
SMOKE: Canada: Thin to moderately dense residual smoke associated with the larger wildfire complexes in Alaska over the last week or so, can be seen across N Canada, with two distinct bands converging to an apex over the SW portions of Hudson Bay. The southern arm is laid out E-W over N Manitoba to S Reindeer Lake into N Saskatchewan. The second is oriented ESE- WNW from far NW Manitoba, across SW Nunavut into Central NW Territories. Each are around 100km wide with a gap of about 100km between them on average. DUST: Wyoming/Colorado/Nebraska: A thin line of light blowing dust was seen dropping south across extreme southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska and into northeast Colorado late this afternoon and evening. This dust was generated from gusty winds associated with the outflow from a cluster of strong thunderstorms that moved eastward across the region. VOLCANIC ASH: Alaskan Peninsula: The eruption of Pavlof volcano in the Alaskan Peninsula is producing ash that can be tracked on the Anchroage VAAC webpage or via header FVAK21 PAWU through the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). This ash is generally moving SW and NW from the volcano... however a vog or haze could be seen east of the volcano into the Gulf of Alaska, just north of a significant confluence zone from deep southerly flow converging with N or NE flow from a cyclone dropping SSE along the Alaska coastline. Gallina/Ruminski Earlier Analysis: Southern/Central Plains: An area of remnant smoke/haze has shifted north from yesterday stretching from eastern Colorado, southern Nebraska, Kansas, western Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma. Most of the smoke that remains mixed with the haze/pollutants is believed to have originated from wildfires in Arizona. Additionally, a second area of aerosols that may include dust/smoke is observed across south-central Canada across the Northern/Central Plains and reaching the central Great Lakes region. Dust transported from Asia may be mixing in with some smoke from a clustering of fires burning across central Saskatchewan. Northern Canada: Residual area of smoke extends across portions of southern Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba. It is believed that smoke may have originated from wildfires that had previously existing in Alaska. Mexico: Area of remnant smoke associated with several large wildfires burning across the southeastern Sonora/western Chihuahua states of Mexico is moving west-southwest. Warren 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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