Sunday, June 12, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 13, 2011

US/Gulf of Mexico/Northern Mexico:
An extremely large area of thin density aerosol which is believed to
contain smoke covers a good portion of northern Mexico, the Southwestern
US, the Great Plains region from the Dakotas to Texas, the middle and
lower Mississippi Valley, the Southeastern US, and the Mid-Atlantic
coastal region. Within this enormous area of thin density aerosol are
areas of moderately dense to dense smoke which extend from eastern Arizona
and northern Mexico across the South Central US and eastward along the
Gulf Coast region to off the Florida coast. Many larger wildfires are
responsible for this huge mass of smoke including ones which continue to
burn over northern and western Mexico, eastern and southeastern Arizona,
northwestern Texas, southeastern Georgia, northeastern Florida, and far
northeastern North Carolina.

Central/Eastern Canada/Great Lakes Region:
A large and expansive region of smoke can also be seen stretching from
extreme eastern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan through Ontario and
Quebec, across Hudson Bay, and eventually off the eastern Canadian
coast. The smoke is also being wrapped southeastward around the back
side of low pressure over Lake Superior, the UP of Michigan, northern
lower Michigan, and Lake Huron. All of this smoke is from the numerous
wildfires that continue to burn in northeastern Alberta and northern
Saskatchewan. The most dense smoke in Canada is located closer to the
wildfires over northeastern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan, with a
larger detached mass of moderately dense to locally dense smoke over
portions of Manitoba, Ontario, southern Hudson Bay, and western Quebec.

Earlier this morning...
Alaska/Central Yukon:
A narrow band of light smoke can be seen from northern Alaska reaching
southeastward into parts of southern/central Yukon. This could be remnant
smoke from the wildfires in central Canada that is getting wrapped back
around the system to the north and/or could also be from the few fires
that have been observed over the past week or so through central Alaska.

JS/Belge



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.