DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z June 29, 2015
SMOKE: Canada/Midwest/Great Lakes Region: An expansive area of moderate to heavy smoke produced from Canadian and Alaskan wildfires was observed over the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Manitoba along with a heavy band of smoke attached to this area of smoke moving south through the Dakotas, eastern Nebraska, northeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Arkansas. A prolific amount of wildfires were seen in the southern portions of the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, and Saskatchewan. These wildfires produced many heavy density smoke plumes, which amalgamated into an optically thick area of smoke over northern/central Saskatchewan that was moving to the southeast. Fewer wildfires were observed in northeastern British Columbia and Yukon but moderate to heavy density smoke plumes that were moving to the east were also produced by these wildfires. Light to moderate density smoke was seen over Hudson Bay into Ontario and western Quebec although clouds obscured the full extent of smoke in Quebec. Downstream from the wildfires and heavy smoke in Canada and east of the band of heavy smoke in the Midwest, light density smoke was seen over Minnesota, Iowa, and northern Missouri. Another pocket of light density remnant smoke was observed over the Great Lakes region in between clouds from convection over Illinois and a deck composed primarily of stratus clouds in the northeast. Alaska: A band of light to medium density smoke was seen over central Alaska being stretched to the southwest off the Alaska coastline into the Bering Sea and to the northeast although clouds obscured the smoke over northeastern Alaska. This area of smoke originated from wildfires in central/southwestern Alaska. Eastern Canada: A plume of medium-density smoke is visible off Labrador moving NE into the Atlantic Ocean. This smoke originates from the numerous wildfires burning in Alaska and Canada. DUST Gulf of Mexico: Remnant Saharan dust is visible in a majority of the Gulf of Mexico, notably in the NW off the coast of Texas moving slightly north. It is possible that there may be smoke mixed in with the dust, as there has been signs of oil exploration in the Bay of Campeche. -Cronin 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