DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z September 15, 2015
Currently: Southeast/Mississippi Valley: Numerous fires and most likely agricultural are burning across the Southeast and Mississippi Valley with the bulk of the fires extending from Georgia to Louisiana and north into Arkansas and southeast Missouri. Most of these fires are producing light density smoke. Western and Central US. The entire western US through the Rockies are covered by weather clouds. The major fires burning throughout California, Oregon and Idaho over the last few days are difficult to see along with the associated smoke in satellite imagery. Light to moderate residual smoke can be seen continuing to move farther east over the northern/central Plains and into the Upper/Middle Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Upper Great Lakes region. From earlier today: SMOKE: Western and Central US: A large area of light to medium-density smoke is visible this moving moving east extending from Idaho to Wisconsin. The heaviest areas of smoke include Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. Areas affected by lighter smoke include Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Manitoba, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires currently burning in California and the Pacific NW. Due to the visual limitations of GOES-W, it is difficult to determine how far east smoke extends this morning. Additionally, it is also difficult to determine how far west the smoke extends, due to the extensive cloud cover in California, Nevada, and Utah this morning. NE Texas: A small plume of light-density smoke is visible moving eastward in NE Texas moving into Arkansas this morning. This smoke could originate from the fires that were burning in the area yesterday, but may be remnant from the wildfires continuing to burn out west. Great Lakes: A detached plume of light density smoke is visible moving NE from Minnesota into southern Canada. Smoke is visible in Minnesota, Ontario, and western Quebec. 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