DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z July 18, 2017
SMOKE: US Canadian Border/Mississippi River Valley/Hudson Bay... The complex of fires burning across southern British Columbia are still the major contributor to the expansive thin density smoke plume extending across North America. A zonal jet over much of southern Canada is allowing the smoke to travel toward the east with celerity leading to a significant eastward transport of moderate to thick density smoke from southern British Columbia across the region near the US-Canadian border to near Hudson Bay. However, over the Great Lakes, a trough does bring some of this smoke southward to near the Louisiana coast. Alaska/Yukon/Northwest Territories... Fires across Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories are contributing to a thin smoke layer over eastern Alaska, much of the Yukon, the western Northwest Territories, and northwestern British Columbia. A few small areas of moderate smoke are seen emanating from fires over the Northwest Territories. California... A fire along the western slope of the central Sierras has been producing a smoke plume of varying density since yesterday. This smoke plume currently extends north east over Lake Tahoe, Carson City, and Reno in Nevada with moderate density smoke seen along the eastern portions of the San Joaquin Valley. Southern Idaho/Western Wyoming... Fires in north central Nevada are producing a tenuous smoke plume that extends to the northeast over southern Idaho and western Wyoming. DUST: Caribbean Sea.... A large and thick layer of Saharan dust is observed moving westward over the southern half of the North Atlantic. This dust layer has moved as far west as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and will move further westward into the Caribbean. -Hosley 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