DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 23, 2018.
NESDIS IS INVESTIGATING THE UTILITY OF THIS TEXT NARRATIVE. IF YOU FIND THIS PRODUCT VALUABLE, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS INDICATING HOW YOU AND/OR YOUR AGENCY USE THE INFORMATION. THANK YOU. SEND EMAIL RESPONSES TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov. SMOKE: Southern Half of Canada/Much of the US... Significant wildfire activity scattered across the Western US from northern California and northern Nevada northward across portions of Idaho, western Montana, and the Pacific Northwest as well as a massive wildfire outbreak occurring in western Canada and primarily in British Columbia continued to be responsible for widespread coverage of smoke of varying density affecting most of the southern half of Canada as well as much of the U.S. Only the Southwestern U.S. and southern Texas, were relatively smoke free at least as far as what was seen in visible satellite imagery. The most significant smoke of moderate to thick density affecting the US blanketed the northwestern portion of the US from western Montana, and western Wyoming westward to the portion of the West Coast from northern California to northwestern Washington. The smoke also extended offshore of California, Oregon, and Washington over a portion of the nearby eastern Pacific. Relatively narrow swaths of heavy density smoke extended eastward from Montana and Wyoming to the North and Central Plains and western Great Lakes Region and from the Southern Plains extending east into the southeast of the U.S. Over Canada, thicker smoke covered much of British Columbia, portions of northern and central Alberta, northern and central Saskatchewan, and northern and central Manitoba. The smoke continued to push further south and east throughout the evening covering the east coast of the US with the exception of southern Florida. -Westbrook 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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/ KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire) http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke) ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov