Friday, September 4, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z September 5, 2009

North Central US/Central and Eastern Canada/Northeast US:
An area of residual smoke stretches across a large section of the US
and Canada. Smoke is thin and reaches as far south as northern Missouri,
extends north into the Dakotas, Mississippi Valley, Upper and Lower Great
Lakes and east into the Northeast.  In Canada, the light smoke extends
from eastern Saskatchewan into Manitoba, Ontario/Quebec/Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland and into the Atlantic. The smoke is moving east. Smoke
is from the wildfires burning in California, Oregon, Utah and southern
British Columbia over the past week.

California:
The Station fire burning in Los Angeles county continues to produce a
large area of smoke stretching east to near the California/Nevada border
and north into the central Valley and parts of eastern California, but
not reaching as far north as Tahoe region.  Moderately dense to dense
smoke stretches into the counties of Riverside, Kern, San Bernardino,
Inyo and Tulare.

Kibler

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.