Friday, June 10, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0332Z June 11, 2011

Central/Eastern U.S./Gulf of Mexico:
A very large and expansive area of smoke can be seen over the eastern two
thirds of the contiguous U.S. this evening. The remnant smoke is mostly
from the large Wallow Wildfire in eastern Arizona, the Pains Bay fire over
eastern North Carolina as well as other smaller fires in the southwest
U.S. and northern Mexico. The smoke expands all the way off the eastern
seaboard and southward to the Gulf coast. A more moderately dense band of
smoke can be seen extending from the Wallow Wildfire northeast through
the Central Plains towards the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic States.
Additionally, an area of moderately dense smoke was extending from near
the Pains Bay wildfire in eastern North Carolina northeast towards the
Delmarva and further offshore.  Very dense smoke was evident near the
Wallow Wildfire and Horshoe 2 Wildfires over southeastern Arizona and
extending into western New Mexico.

Central Canada:
An area of moderately dense smoke can be seen extending from near the
wildfires over northeastern Alberta towards central Hudson Bay and the
northern portions of Quebec.  Widespread cloud cover over this region
made smoke detection rather difficult this evening.

Northern Plains and South Central Canada:
An area of light smoke was analyzed over the northern Plains and portions
of South Central Canada.  It is believed the source for the northern
portion of this smoke is the wildfires over northeastern Alberta while
the southern portion was likely from the Wallow Wildfire over Arizona.
Additionally, it is possible that some Asian dust has mixed in with
the smoke.

Hanna

THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT
AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME
DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE
FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST
ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF
THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO
THE SOURCE FIRE 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
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT 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.