DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z June 18, 2010
British Columbia/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Ontario/Northwest Territories: An expansive area of light to moderate density smoke covers much of Canada from northern British Columbia and the southern Northwest Territories east towards the western shore of Hudson Bay in Northern Manitoba and then southeast over James bay into northwest Quebec. Within this larger smoke plume a large area of very dense smoke was detected over northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, and southeast Northwest Territories. A large number of wildfires which have been burning for several days in this region, flared up again this afternoon producing thick smoke plumes that were spreading southeastward. Southern Ontario/Southern Quebec/Great Lakes states/Ohio Valley: Problems with GOES East and West imagery this evening made smoke detection across eastern Canada and the eastern US particularly difficult. Nevertheless, a large area of thin to moderate density smoke was detected from the southern shores of James Bay and covered most of southern Quebec and southeastern Ontario. By this evening, smoke had pushed southeastward across Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron to cover parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Another area of remnant smoke stretched from Lake Superior south along the west shore of Lake Michigan and then southeast to southern West Virginia. Most of this smoke is believed to have originated from the wildfires burning in central and southern Quebec, though the smoke further west along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior may have come from fires in the southwest the past 2-3 days. Southeast US and Mississippi River Valley: A good deal of unknown aerosol created a very hazy look off the southeast coast, south of the Florida panhandle, and over Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. In addition, what is believed to be thin to moderate density smoke was mixed in with other aerosols from Arkansas northward across east Missouri, west Illinois, and into southeast Iowa. Much of this smoke appears to have either originated from fires along the Mississippi River or it may have drifted east from the fires in the southwest the past few days and is now being drawn northward. Front Range/Central and Northern Plains: An area of what is believed to be suspended/blowing dust extended from the Front Range area of Colorado and northeast New Mexico along a frontal boundary into northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota. Dense smoke from a large wildfire in Colorado was also contributing to aerosols over the High Plains. Southern California/Southwest Arizona: Smoke from active fires burning south of the Salton Sea in southern California and at the northwest corner of the Gulf of California was seen this evening spreading out eastward into southwest Arizona. Sheffler 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