DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 29, 2017
SMOKE: Eastern Canada/Great Lakes... Light density smoke was seen blanketing northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, northern Ontario, the southern half of Hudson Bay, much of Quebec, and Labrador before exiting the coast of Canada. This layer of smoke also extended to the south covering the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley. The source for this layer is likely the wildfires throughout northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as a lone wildfire in far northeastern British Columbia. These wildfires have associated with them moderate to dense smoke plumes. These smoke plumes are also allowing moderate density smoke to accumulate within a thin stripe extending from southern Hudson Bay south-southwestward across Duluth, Minnesota; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska. Western CONUS/Southern British Columbia... Ongoing wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest were seen contributing to a varying density smoke plume that extends from the Cascades out to southern California along the Pacific Coast, as well as out to El Paso, Texas along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Remnant smoke over southeastern New Mexico is quite dense, with it's origins in wildfires throughout western Montana. The remaining portions of dense smoke within this area are the plumes from the most intense fires. Moderately dense smoke extended from the wildfires in northwest California westward into western portions of the Dakotas. In addition to the fires across the western CONUS, the fires in British Columbia have re-invigorated, producing a light to moderate density smoke layer in southern British Columbia. This may also be contributing some to the plume over the western CONUS and the plume over eastern Canada. Alaska/Canada near or just south of 60N... Thin density smoke was observed extending across southern Alaska, southern Yukon, and northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This smoke is likely remnant smoke from fires in British Columbia over two weeks ago that has circumnavigated the Earth at around 60N. DUST: Yucatan Peninsula... A layer of Saharan dust appears to have made its way over the Yucatan Peninsula, portions of northern Central America, and the central Gulf of Mexico. This layer is drifting off to the north and west. Central Atlantic A second Saharan dust layer could be seen over the central Atlantic Ocean. This layer was seen moving slowly to the west-northwest, which has a trajectory that leads north of the Leeward Islands. 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