DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 18, 2014
Canada/U.S: An extensive area of smoke remains over large portions of Canada and parts of the U.S, though smoke is obscuring the full extent of the smoke closest to where the wildfires are occurring. Smoke is visible over southern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Ontario. The southern extent of the smoke is moving into the U.S. over far northern Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, North/South Dakota, and into Minnesota. There are multiple areas where the smoke is thickest: one area over British Columbia, another area over Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Montana, and a final small patch over southeastern North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota, and southwestern Minnesota. This smoke originates from wildfires occurring through Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. Eastern U.S: Multiple areas of remnant smoke associated with the Canadian wildfires occurring in Northwest Territories and northern Saskatchewan are visible over parts of the eastern seaboard. One area is visible over extreme southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec, into the U.S. over New England into the northern Mid-Atlantic. Another area is visible moving off of the coastline over North/South Carolina. These areas of smoke are from the Canadian wildfires. Western U.S: Multiple wildfire complexes continue to burn in northern California, emitting smoke that is drifting northward into Oregon. A ribbon of light density remnant smoke is also visible over Idaho and spreading into Montana, associated with these wildfires as well. Northern Canada: A streak of light smoke persists over northwest Nunavut and northeastern NW Territories, extending to the northwest over the open Arctic ocean. DUST: A broad area of Saharan dust is currently over much of the southern and central Gulf of Mexico and the western Caribbean, reaching inland over South Florida to a line just south of Orlando and into southeastern Texas. Heeps 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