Wednesday, August 18, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730 August 18, 2010

Northwest to South Central Canada:
A plume of thin remnant smoke was seen stretched from western Victoria
Island in northwest Nunavut southward through the Northwest Territories
and southeast across Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and western Ontario. Areas
of moderate density smoke was also present over north Saskatchewan and
central Manitoba. Much of this smoke likely originated from the fires in
northern Saskatchewan though the smoke further to the north could have
come from either fires in Alaska or possibly had rotated around the upper
low over Hudson Bay, originating from the British Columbia wildfires.

Southwest Canada/North Central to Northwestern US:
Smoke continues to pour eastward from the fires burning in south central
British Columbia with the most dense area located near the fires and
moving slowly to the east this morning. Thin and moderately dense
smoke was present across B.C., southern and western Alberta, southern
Saskatchewan, northeast WA and extreme northern ID, north MT, north ND,
and into northwest MN. Another small area of thin smoke coming from the
fires in north BC could be seen through clouds in the northwest part of
the province.

South Dakota/Nebraska:
A small piece of thin smoke that had separated from the main area of
remnant smoke moving southeast from Canada was seen over South Dakota
and Nebraska. The smoke likely originated in British Columbia and was
moving quickly eastward.

Great Lakes region/southeast Canada:
An area of mostly thin remnant smoke that probably came from the British
Columbia fires several days ago was present from southern Lake Michigan
to southwestern Quebec.

Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Louisiana:
A small area of what is likely a mix of aerosols was seen over
northeast TX, southeast OK, southwest AR, and extreme northwest LA. It is
believed that smoke from yesterdays fires in the region along with other
particulates including ozone may be responsible for the hazy conditions
there today.

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

 


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.