Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1930Z August 04, 2009

Northwestern to Western Canada/Alaska:
An expansive area of remnant smoke from wildfires in Alaska and the Yukon
Territory covered most of northwest Canada including western Nunavut,
northwestern British Columbia, and eastern and northern Alaska. The
smoke stretched well to the north of Canada/Alaska across the Beaufort
Sea as it has been pulled northward by an upper low. Moderately dense to
dense smoke was observed over the Beaufort Sea, Northwest Territories,
Yukon Territory, extreme northwest British Columbia, and eastern Alaska.

Northern US/Southern Canada/Mid-Atlantic to Northeast US:
A very large area of smoke stretched across the northern US and across
southern Canada this morning. Smoke from fires in Alaska, the Yukon
Territory, and British Columbia that had traveled south and eastward
over the past few days was seen as far east as the Great Lakes and
southwest Quebec in a continuous plume from Washington/southern British
Columbia. Some of this smoke was moderately dense to dense over south
central Canada and the northern Plains. A smaller plume of remnant smoke
from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast was separated from the main area
of smoke by a cold front across the Great Lakes region, but was also
likely from the fires in western Canada and Alaska.

North Central Canada:
A plume of thin to moderately dense smoke was positioned across the
northwestern edge of Hudson's Bay also covering northern Manitoba, part
of the Northwest Territories, and southeast Nunavut. This smoke likely
originated from the fires in the Yukon Territory and Alaska several
days ago.

Central Plains:
Thin to moderately dense smoke was seen moving southeastward across
Kansas and Oklahoma this morning. It is believed this smoke came from
yesterday's fires in Utah and Colorado.

Washington/Oregon/Idaho:
Moderately dense to dense smoke was observed in GOES-11 satellite imagery
along the WA/OR border and north to south over the OR Cascades. Thin
smoke stretched eastward across northern OR into central ID with
embedded moderately dense smoke. While some of this smoke is leftover
from yesterday's fires in Oregon, additional remnant smoke has been
added by active fires in northeast California.


-Sheffler

More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.