DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z June 20, 2015
SMOKE Alaska/Yukon: An area of light to medium density remnant smoke was observed over parts of southern/southeast Alaska and western Yukon. This area of remnant smoke has originated from wildfires in southern Alaska and western Yukon over the past several days. Wildfires in southeast Alaska and the western portions of the Yukon Territory continue to produce light to moderate density smoke this morning. The smoke emitted by these wildfires is drifting east. The little plume in northern Alaska is visible traveling over from Siberia. The second plume further southeast is visible originating from the wildfires seen in southern Alaska, however it may be mixed with the smoke coming from Siberia. Western and Central Canada: A broad area of light to heavy remnant smoke was observed moving south and spanning from the Northwest Territories to central Alberta, eastward across central Saskatchewan to east-central Manitoba, and onward through western Ontario. Fires actively burning in northern Alberta and southeast of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories are the source of most of this remnant smoke. The heavier smokes plumes are in Alberta, Saskatchewan and entering Manitoba, with the heaviest plume located in Saskatchewan. Central and Southwest US/Northwest Mexico: A large wildfire in southern California, called the Lake Fire, continues to produce a heavy density plume that has shifted more to the south this morning. Light to medium density remnant smoke from this wildfire encompasses southeastern California, and light density in Arizona, central to eastern Colorado, western New Mexico and northwestern Mexico into Baja. Lake Fire has burned over 13000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California since June 17th. Another wildfire that is producing heavy density smoke, is called Whitetail, and was observed in southeastern Gila county in Arizona and moving southeast into northwestern Mexico. Coast of North Carolina/Atlantic ocean: An area of light smoke originating from east coast of North Carolina was observed moving east in to the Atlantic ocean. Due to the agricultural burns that is taking place in southeast US, smoke is is spreading further in this direction. DUST Gulf of Mexico/South-central US: A large area of Saharan dust continues to stream west from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico before being pulled northward towards the Gulf coast. The optically thick dust appears to extend north towards the eastern portions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama. -Oegerle/Kemal 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