DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z August 19, 2009
North Atlantic: Well off the Mid-Atlantic coast, light haze/aerosols were seen drifting northeastward this morning. This haze extended northeastward across Nova Scotia and part of Newfoundland. Washington/Montana/Idaho/British Columbia: A fairly large area of moderately dense to dense smoke could be seen this morning covering much of northern Washington, north Idaho, and southern British Columbia including the southern end of Vancouver Island. Thin smoke even extended as far east as western Montana. This smoke was caused mostly by a large fire burning in southern British Columbia, though other smaller fires around the Pacific Northwest may have contributed aerosols as well. Arizona/New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas: Thin remnant smoke was seen in visible satellite imagery stretching across eastern New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, and southwest/central Kansas. Another small area of thin smoke was seen over southern Arizona. Both areas of smoke are believed to be from yesterdays fires in Arizona and New Mexico. North Central Canada: An area of thin haze of unidentified composition was seen wrapping around the northwest side of an upper low across the central part of Hudson's Bay. 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