DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 5, 2017
SMOKE: Southern and Southwestern New Mexico/Southern and Southeastern Arizona...An area of smoke of varying density attributed to a number of wildfires burning in south central New Mexico and in particular southeastern Arizona was seen covering portions of south central New Mexico, along with south central and southeastern Arizona. Area from Western Nevada to southeastern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming... A number of wildfires over central and western Nevada with a few smaller fires over northwestern Utah and southern Idaho was responsible for an extensive area of thin density smoke covering much of western and northern Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southern Idaho, northern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming. Moderately dense to thick smoke was prevalent over western, central, and northwestern Nevada closer to the larger wildfires. Northwestern Colorado/Southern Wyoming... Several wildfires were noted with smoke plumes of varying density spreading southward and fanning out across much of the northwestern quarter of Colorado. Area from Colorado to Northwestern Texas... A patch of leftover thin density smoke primarily from several wildfires in northwestern Colorado and southern Wyoming was visible earlier in the day stretching from east central Colorado southeastward to northeastern New Mexico, the western Oklahoma panhandle and northwestern Texas. Area from southern California to southern Utah... Significant smoke from the Brian Head Fire in southern Utah moved westward during the afternoon reaching into southeastern Nevada. At the same time, moderately dense to thick smoke from a wildfire in Tulare County of south central California fanned out as it shifted to the north and east crossing over into southwestern Nevada. Southern California/Northern Baja... A batch of thin to moderately dense smoke from several wildfires in northern Baja was present over northern Baja and offshore to the west over the nearby Pacific with the smoke then appearing to spread back inland over southern California. Southwestern and South Central Canada/Northern Montana/Northern North Dakota... A very large region of thin density smoke covered much of the southern half of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba along with the northern part of Montana and northern North Dakota. This smoke was believe to be a combination of leftover smoke from fires in south central Washington a couple of days ago along with newer smoke from a wildfire near the Blaine-Phillips county border in north central Montana. Farther to the west, a stripe of what may be long transport of leftover smoke from the fires in northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada or possible even from eastern Asia could be seen moving inland over Vancouver Island and across southern British Columbia to southern Alberta. Eastern Alaska/Northwestern Canada... Smoke from wildfires in northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada continues to circulate in the region covering eastern Alaska, much of the Yukon and the western portion of the Northwest Territories in northwestern Canada. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Oregon/Southern Washington/Northern and Central Idaho... An unknown aerosol was visible late in the day covering a portion of Oregon, southern Washington, and northern and central Idaho. Given the number of wildfires over the Western US, it is possible that this may be leftover smoke from some of these fires with the possibility that it also could be long range transport of leftover smoke from the fires in northeastern Alaska and Northwestern Canada which moved southward off the southern Alaskan coast then wrapped back inland over Oregon and spots farther to the northeast though there is also some possibility that it is also long range transport from fire activity in eastern Asia. JS Earlier This Morning... Arizona/Utah/Nevada: A area of light residual smoke can be over parts of southern Utah/Nevada and into northern Arizona. J Kibler 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