DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z July 14, 2015
SMOKE: Canada/Northern US: A concentrated area of wildfires over northern and central portions of Saskatchewan were responsible for a swath of moderately dense to thick smoke which stretched from northern and central Saskatchewan southeastward over central and south central Manitoba to western and central Ontario. The thickest portion of the smoke was being pushed southward toward the north central US in the direction of northern Minnesota and Lake Superior. Somewhat thinner density smoke, surrounding the region thicker smoke, covered a much larger area including far north central Canada and south central to southeastern Canada as well as portions of the northern tier of the US from northern Montana all the way over to the Northeastern US to off the coast of the Northeast and the Canadian Maritimes. Alaska: Wildfires located mainly across central Alaska were continuing to emit significant quantities of smoke which moved primarily in a westward direction during the day. Thinner smoke was detected over approximately the northern two-thirds of Alaska with the thickest smoke over central to western Alaska and over the Bering Strait. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean/Southern Plains/Mississippi Valley/Southeastern US: Patches of what is likely Saharan dust were visible moving west in satellite imagery over the Caribbean and crossing over the northern/central Yucatan Peninsula and over the southern sections of the Gulf of Mexico. Dust likely mixed with other aerosols is also seen moving northward over the western Gulf of Mexico and into southern and eastern Texas. The dust/aerosol mixture then could be seen through breaks in the clouds over a portion of the Southeast and off the Southeast coast. JS 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