DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z June 22, 2017
SMOKE: Southwestern US/Western Mexico... The wildfire in eastern Iron County of southwestern Utah rapidly expanded this afternoon and evening resulting in a huge dense smoke plume which spread quickly to the east and east-northeast reaching across the border into western Colorado just prior to sunset. A combination of this fire and other fires burning in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southern California as well as western Mexico were responsible for a very large mass of thin density smoke which covered western Mexico and the adjacent eastern Pacific, Baja, southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, eastern and southeastern Nevada, Utah, and the western half of Colorado. Eastern Alaska/Northwestern Canada... A large patch of thin to moderately dense smoke associated with fires burning in the Yukon of northwestern Canada was visible over much of the Yukon, the western portion of the Northwest Territories and eastern Alaska. UNKNOWN AEROSOL... An unknown aerosol was detected just before sunset in an arc from southwest Alaska near Bethel northeastward to near Bettles. It could possibly be sulfur dioxide from a recent volcanic eruption or long range transport of smoke or dust from Asia. 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