DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 03, 2010
Alaska/Western Canada: An area of moderately dense to dense smoke continues to move south SE across parts of central/northern Alaska into the Yukon and western sections of the Northwest Territory. The area of moderately dense smoke stretches from far eastern Alaska into northern/western Yukon Territory. Very dense smoke extends across a large area of the Yukon Territory, western sections of the Northwest Territory and into northern British Columbia. Light smoke stretches back into central/northern sections of Canada. Another large area of moderately dense to dense smoke stretches from northern to southern British Columbia from wildfires burning in the northwestern region and the southern regions of the province. The moderately dense smoke spread south from the northern British Columbia into the central sections with areas of dense smoke in the southern portions and a small pocket near the coast in the central region of the province. The smoke across parts of northern/central British Columbia is moving southwest toward the coast with smoke in the south moving east. Western and Northern US/Southern Canada: Wildfires burning across the western US and southern Canada are emitting a large area of smoke that stretches across the northern tier of the US and southern tier of Canada. Moderately dense smoke lies across parts of central/eastern Washington, northern Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and north into southern Canada. Lighter smoke extends south into Oregon, northern California and as far east as northern Minnesota. Strips of moderately dense smoke do stretch into central Oregon/Idaho. Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Ontario/Quebec: Smoke from the British Columbia fires (light to moderately dense) has moved east into northern/central Alberta and combines with the large smoke producing wildfires in Saskatchewan. This smoke is all moving east. Left over smoke from the Saskatchewan wildfires has moved east into central Manitoba, northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec (across southern sections of the Hudson Bay). Most likely, smoke extends across a larger section of central/eastern Canada but due to clouds the full extent of the smoke cannot be seen and looks a little disconnected in satellite imagery and on our webpage. J Kibler 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