DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0340Z June 17, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Yukon: Areas of light to moderately dense smoke is visible over a majority of the coastal areas of Alaska as well as farther inland over southwestern Yukon in Canada. Several large wildfires have contributed to this area of smoke including the Sockeye fire (in Willow, AK), Tanana Slough fire in eastern Alaska, Card Street fire (on the Kenai Peninsula of AK), Can Creek fire (near Lime Village, AK) along with additional fires in southwestern Yukon. Area of remnant smoke is generally drifting to the west-southwest. Central Canada/US: A large plume of light-density smoke is visible moving east over a majority of central Canada, making its way across the border into the US as well. Areas affected include Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Montana, and North Dakota. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires that had been burning for weeks in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Southeast/Mid-Atlantic: A large area of light-density smoke is seen over a majority of the Southeast moving eastward, extending from from Alabama to Virginia. Other areas affected include Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia. The smoke originates from the agricultural burns that have been taking place in this region the last couple days. Gulf of Mexico: A small area of thin smoke is seen drifting westward across the eastern Gulf of Mexico (west-southwest of Tampa, FL). This area of smoke is believed to have originated from a fire observed yesterday east of Lake Okeechobee near the Dupuis Reserve in southeast Florida. West Coast: Area of remnant light smoke seen tracking east across southern Oregon, NE California, northern Nevada and SW Idaho at sunset. Smoke is believed to be primarily associated with the Buckskin fire in southwestern Oregon, although there were a few other breakout fires in northern California that are contributing to the smoke as well. DUST Gulf of Mexico: A large area of Saharan blowing dust is visible moving north from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico making landfall into Mississippi and Louisiana. It is also possible that this dust could be mixed with smoke emitting from the agricultural burns in Florida and the SE. AEROSOLS New Mexico/Texas: A plume of unknown aerosols are visible at sunset moving slowly west across the New Mexico/Texas border. Oegerle 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