DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z July 15, 2015
SMOKE Canada/Northern US: A large area of light to medium density smoke stretches from north-central Canada southward over the northern US plain states and approaching the Great Lakes and midwest regions. Light smoke also reaches back toward the west over portions of Alberta, British Columbia, and the US Pacific NW. The portion of the smoke that appears to be the most dense is concentrated over Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the US Great Lakes region. Due to cloud cover over portions of eastern Canada, a second remnant area of light density smoke was identified in satellite imagery from southeastern Quebec and the Canadian Maritime north to New Foundland and Labrador. Both areas of smoke can be attributed to numerous wildfires still burning across central Saskatchewan province, as well as large fires in southern British Columbia and Alaska. Alaska: Smoke from several large wildfires concentrated across central Alaska could be seen covering most of the northern third of the state. Light to heavy density smoke extends across northwest portions of the state and over the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, with the most dense areas hovering over the immediate area of the active wildfire complexes. DUST Southern Plains/Western Gulf of Mexico: Another large surge of Saharan dust has blown through the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico. This foreign dust has reached the shores of Texas and is traveling north into Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas. California: A dust event is visible at sunset over the Salton Sea in California. Blowing dust is visible kicking up just SW of the Salton sea, and moving eastward. This dust originates from the dry beds located around the Salton Sea. A second band of dust is visible on the Pacific coast, making landfall over southern California. The band of dust is visible extending from Los Angeles as far north as the Nevada border. This dust is probably Asian in origin, and has slowly been making its way south from Alaska/Canada through the west coast. 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