DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1445Z June 28, 2014
Dust/Sand: Gulf of Mexico: Large and dense SAL (Saharan Air Layer) has been tracked across the Caribbean and has now turned NW into the southern and central Gulf of Mexico as far north as 26N between 90-92W. This is anomalously far west to be tracked so well with distinct edges and is likely to be pulled north into LA and continue west into S TX over the next day or so. The SAL outbreak covers all of the Yucatan to Tabasco, N Guatemala, N Belize (clear over Roatan, Island) but covers the eastern tip of Honduras...then extends ENE to cover the Caymans (though clearing in the next few hours), Jamaica and the far E tip of Haiti. The northern boundary then covers all of SE of Cuba (South of 22N, the Isle of Youth and the western tip of Cuba (this leaves northern Cuba clear at this time). Smoke: Florida: An unnamed fire in the Northern Everglades west of US-27 along the Broward/Miami-Dade county line has produced some thin to moderately dense smoke last evening/last night that has tracked due west in the low-middle troposphere, while low level very thin smoke as traveled SW into the Everglades Nat'l Park. New Mexico/West Texas: Thin smoke from last night's emissions from the San Juan fire in E AZ continue to track east and is oriented in a SW to NE line from far SE NM across the northern TX panhandle... where it mixes with some lingering haze and light resuspended dust/sand from last night's high winds/sand storm across much of W Texas (southern Cap Rock area). E Canada/New England: A large boreal fire across far N Quebec continues to emit moderately denes smoke east this morning, but last night's convectively dense smoke currently covers much of Labrador moving E and ESE... a large band of thin to moderately dense smoke likely from prior day's output can be seen along/behind the front exiting Labrador, extending south to cover Newfoundland then back toward the SW to cover the Gulf of St. Lawrence , New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, coastal SE Quebec...as it moves due east (fast further north). At the base of the trof, very weak anticyclonic flow pulls thin smoke back across much of Maine and New Hampshire, this area appears to be nearly stagnant with the highest density along the leading/southern edge from NH/MA boarder out the Canadian Maritime. A very thin ribbon of thin smoke likely from the NW Territories' fires that was trapped further into the Arctic has returned SE to recently have cross the southern tip of Baffin Island into the Labrador Strait approaching far SW Greenland. NW Territories/N Canada: Numerous very large boreal wildfire complexes over much of Central NW Territories continues to pump out heavy smoke that due to a small cyclone dropping SE across Big Bear Lake has allowed much of the smoke from the past few days to linger and create a very dense smoke area nearly coincident with the fire complexes. Through breaks in the clouds, thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen being pulled east along central Eastern NW Territories into S Nunavut across the northern Hudson Bay into N Quebec just NW of the aforementioned Quebec wildfire. A small pocket of thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen in the NW extending trof from the small cyclone over Big Bear Lake; covering the Arctic coastal zone of NW Territories. This was smoke likely pulled NW as cyclone was developing over the last day or so. Gallina 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