DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 20, 2015
SMOKE: Western US/SW Canada: Large areas of smoke ranging from light to heavy density are visible over a majority of the western US as well as southwest Canada. The heaviest smoke is visible over parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana this evening. Moderate density smoke is observed farther east into central Montana and central Wyoming, Light density smoke extends to the Dakotas and across most of Colorado. Additionally, a ribbon of smoke is seen dipping down from Saskatchewan/Manitoba covering all of North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as Nebraska. This smoke is residual from Canadian wildfires. From this morning... Northeast US/Eastern Canada: Areas of residual light smoke are seen as far south southern New England extending north and northeast towards Maine and south of Nova Scotia. Other thin smoke is seen over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and across parts of Newfoundland. This smoke originates from the wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. Additional aerosol seen mixed between clouds over the Great Lakes may be smoke-related but could not be confirmed given the general hazy appearance. DUST Texas/New Mexico: An aerosol seen over southern New Mexico and west/central Texas is believed to be elevated dust particles. Ramirez/Sheffler 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