Tuesday, June 2, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1545Z June 2, 2009

Southwestern to South Central Canada/Northwestern to North Central US:
A very large area of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was
observed this morning in GOES-West visible imagery with the favorable
lower sun angle just after sunrise. The aerosol extended all the way from
Yukon and British Columbia provinces southeastward to southern Manitoba
Province, northern Montana, North Dakota, and northern Minnesota. It
is possible that some detached smoke from larger fires burning in
southeastern Alaska near Northway, west central Yukon Province in
northwestern Canada, and southwestern British Columbia Province in
southwestern Canada may be contributing to the aerosol.

Southwestern US:
A narrow band of aerosol of unknown origin and composition stretched
from northwestern Nevada to southeastern Arizona. The band was moving
to the northeast.

Central US/South Central/Southeastern US: Visible imagery showed
hazy conditions across a large area of the Central, South Central,
and Southeastern US. The National Weather Service Smoke Forecasts
indicate that some of the area from Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana to Missouri and southern Illinois may contain some remnant
smoke from yesterday's fires burning in the South Central and
Southeast.... http://www.nws.noaa.gov/aq/sectors/conus.php

JS


THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov













 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.