Wednesday, June 17, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z June 18, 2009

Southern Plains to Tennessee Valley:
Thin to moderately dense remnant smoke arranged in southwest to
northeast oriented bands was present this evening from southwest
Mississippi/Louisiana to Oklahoma/Arkansas. Additional thin smoke
extended eastward across Missouri/Arkansas to Kentucky and Tennessee
where it was pulled into a large cluster of thunderstorms.

Southern Canada/Northern Plains:
The large area of remnant smoke over southern Canada continued to spread
out to the east today from southern Saskatchewan eastward to central
Quebec and southward to North Dakota and eastern Montana. This smoke
was mostly thin in appearance except over north central Ontario where
moderately dense smoke was present. Multiple large fires that started
this afternoon in Ontario were contributing dense smoke to the large
remnant smoke plume already draped across southern Canada.

West Canada:
A plume of moderately dense to very dense smoke and possibly other
particulates was seen along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border wrapping
around an upper low in southern Saskatchewan. This smoke was rotating
slowly to the east with the movement of the upper low.

Northeast US/East Canada:
Thin remnant smoke off the coast of New England had moved farther out
to sea but was still seen stretching across Nova Scotia and southeast
Newfoundland to the Labrador Sea.

Alaska:
Thin to moderately dense remnant smoke was observed across southwest
Alaska and over the Aleutians.

Great Lakes Region:
Thin to moderately dense smoke had wrapped around from southern Canada
and was returning westward and southward across Lake Superior and Lake
Michigan.

Sheffler


More information on additional areas of smoke associated with these
fires and others can be found at the locations listed below.

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.