DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z August 28, 2017
SMOKE: Much of Central and Southern Canada/Northwestern, Central, and Northeastern US...The extremely large mass of leftover thin density smoke attributed to numerous wildfires burning in central and southwestern Canada and the Northwestern US was visible this morning covering the Northwestern US from northern California, Oregon, and Washington eastward to the northern and central Rockies and out over the Great Plains. From there the area of smoke extended eastward over the Middle and Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region to New England. Cloudiness over much of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic region limited smoke detection in those locations. Over Canada, the thin density smoke was seen over the southern part of British Columbia with areas of thin density smoke present over both the northern and southern parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. From there, the smoke covered Manitoba, Ontario, the southern half of Hudson Bay, Quebec, and the Canadian Maritimes before exiting the coast of Canada. Swaths of moderately dense to thick smoke within the large area of thin density smoke could be seen from eastern Saskatchewan to southern Hudson Bay with a smaller patch over far northeaster Quebec. This thicker smoke was linked to the wildfires over central Canada. Another area of moderately dense to locally thick smoke was located over southern British Columbia and was believed to be mainly from the British Columbia wildfires. Over the US, moderately dense to thick smoke was visible over coastal Oregon extending inland over portions of Washington and Oregon, central Idaho, and parts of Montana. Another stripe of moderately dense to thick smoke was seen extending from near the Black Hills of South Dakota southward to the northwest Texas panhandle. These regions of thicker smoke over the US were mainly attributed to the wildfires burning primarily across western Montana, central Idaho, central and northern Washington, central and southwestern Oregon, and northwestern California. Finally, a thin elongated swath of moderately dense smoke extended from northeastern Minnesota to western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. This particular area of moderately dense smoke was likely from the central Canadian wildfires. DUST: Yucatan Peninsula... A rather thin density aerosol was visible in and around the Yucatan Peninsula which may be a residual layer of Saharan dust. Central Atlantic A second Saharan dust layer can be seen entering the GOES-East Visible imagery over the central Atlantic Ocean. This layer was seen moving off slowly to the west toward or just north of the Leeward Islands. 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