DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1930Z August 16, 2010
British Columbia/Alberta/Southwest Saskatchewan/Northwestern US: An area of moderately dense to dense smoke was seen over central and south central British Columbia this morning spreading to the east and southeast. Numerous fires burning across the central and northwestern parts of the province are responsible for the smoke and some were seen producing new smoke this morning. Thin remnant smoke from the fires reached into western and southern Alberta, southwest Saskatchewan, northeast Montana, southwest North Dakota, and across much of Washington state. Alaska/Yukon Territory: A band of thin remnant smoke from yesterdays fires in the southeastern and southwestern corners of the Yukon Territory was seen along a frontal boundary extending northwestward from the southern Yukon into east central Alaska. Additionally a small area of thin smoke with an embedded area of moderately dense smoke was present near Fort Yukon, Alaska from fires just to the west and southwest of that location. Northwest Territories/North Saskatchewan/extreme Western Nunavut: Thin remnant smoke from the fires burning in northern Saskatchewan and southeast of Great Slave Lake in Northwest Territories had spread southeast by this morning reaching to the Manitoba border over east central Saskatchewan. A small area of moderate density smoke was embedded over central Saskatchewan. Another separate aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen much further north; over and to the north/northeast of Great Bear Lake covering parts of the Northwest Territories and extreme western Nunavut. The unknown aerosol was moving southward from the Arctic. Eastern Canada: Multiple areas of what is believed to be thin remnant smoke was seen over eastern Canada and the coastal waters; from Nova Scota and Anticosti Island northeastward, over the south and western shores of Newfoundland, and north/northeast of Labrador. This remnant smoke likely came from fires in western Canada several days ago. Southern US Plains: Thin remnant smoke possibly mixing with other aerosols such as ozone was present over parts of southern Illinois, southeast Missouri, Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, northeast Texas, and eastern Oklahoma. The smoke observed most likley originated from the large number of fires along the Mississippi River and over parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and east Texas yesterday. -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