Wednesday, June 15, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z June 16, 2011

Southwest US/Texas/northern Mexico:
Several large wildfires (e.g. Wallow, Horseshoe 2) continue to emit
moderately dense to dense smoke that extends across central New Mexico
and into Texas.  The eastern edge of this smoke is around Abilene,
TX when viewed on satellite imagery this evening.

Southeast US/eastern North Carolina:
A broad area of moderately dense smoke continues to be present over the
northeast Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean. The origins of
this smoke include the Honey Prairie wildfire in the Okefenokee swamp
and several other fires in Florida. The Pains Bay wildfire in coastal
North Carolina continues to burn and produce an area of moderately dense
smoke that extends southeast over the Atlantic.

Central Saskatchewan/eastern North Dakota:
A very light ribbon of smoke is present from central Saskatchewan into the
southwest corner of Manitoba and northeast corner of North Dakota. This
appears to be remnant smoke from the Lake Athabasca vicinity wildfires.

Northeast Alberta/northwest Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories:
Wildfires continue today in the Lake Athabasca vicinity and are producing
light to moderately dense smoke. Though the smoke is largely obscured by
heavy cloud cover, it is evident that it is being wrapped westward into
a low pressure as far west as northeast British Columbia and subsequently
pushed north then east across the southern Northwest Territories.

Hudson Bay/Quebec/Ontario:
Another broad area of thin density smoke likely from the wildfires in
the Lake Athabasca vicinity is observed over much of the Hudson bay,
with an elongated ribbon extending southeast into central Quebec.
A large wildfire in western Ontario (northwest of Lake Nipigon) is
emitting moderately dense to thick smoke. The smoke originally moves
northward and then curves east into James Bay.

Ramirez/Ruminski

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.