DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 31, 2017
SMOKE: Western North America... Wildfires throughout California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia have been observed producing a large smoke plume of varying density. This large smoke plume is riding around the periphery of a ridge over the western CONUS, traveling over eastern Montana and south along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Some of this smoke has also drifted northward across western Canada. Many of the smoke plumes emanating from individual wildfires are of moderate to heavy density, which is contributing to the moderately thick smoke plume that exists from northern and central California into the Dakotas. This plume then extends eastward into northern Wisconsin and south into east-central New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Do note that cloud cover is present throughout much of the western CONUS, which may be obscuring some wildfires and associated smoke plumes. One place in particular where this may be an issue is northern and central Nevada, where smoke plumes from the wildfires in the Sierra Nevada range are advected. Central and Eastern Canada/Great Lakes/Southern Greenland... A predominantly light density smoke region is observed blanketing northeastern Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, northern Labrador, southern portions of Greenland, and Newfoundland. Off the coast of Newfoundland, the smoke has been fully incorporated into a cyclone. Another cyclone to the southeast may be obscuring some portions of the light smoke layer. This smoke layer is likely the result of wildfires throughout central Canada with minor contributions from the wildfires across western North America. Closer to the source region in Saskatchewan, moderate to heavy smoke has been analyzed. Much of the most dense smoke is emanating from the previously mentioned wildfires throughout Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Moderate to heavily dense remnant smoke was observed drifting south across the Great Lakes. North of Hawaii... Thin density remnant smoke is seen within a cyclonic feature just north of Hawaii. Cloud cover between Hawaii and California is affecting the ability to discern whether or not the northeastward extension of this feature still exists. The smoke and cyclone appeared to be drifting to the north over the open north Pacific Ocean. DUST: Eastern Caribbean... A Saharan dust layer is observed over the eastern Caribbean Sea as far west as Hispaniola. This layer also extends north to about 27N. This dust layer, seen for much of the past few days, has been drifting off to the east. 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