DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1400Z June 28, 2011
***Large area of smoke has melded across W Mexico/Continental US/Canada and Polar Alaska. Below is typical description. Considering the amount of mixing and multiple altitudes (overlapping); other unlisted sources may contribute that the fires described in each paragraph*** NW Mexico/Arizona: Large numbers of fires along the Sierra Madre Occidental particularly along the SW Coahuila boarders with Sonora and Sinaloa continue to produce thin to moderate smoke that is moving WSW over to Baja California before turning northward into SE California and Arizona (to the Grand Canyon). The smoke thins out considerably and is thin by the time it reaches the US. N New Mexico/S Colorado: A pocket of moderately dense smoke can be seen moving across NW New Mexico into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of S CO. The source is very likely the new fire in Western Graham county AZ. New Mexico/Southern Great Plains: Moderately dense smoke from the Pacheco fire near Los Alamos continues to move due east with lobes of thin to moderately dense smoke being pulled north and south as smoke is along an active weather boundary with large convective complexes. So thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen covering W KS, all of OK, the panhandle and NE sections of TX...detection is obscured across AR and E TN, but a pocket could be seen in W TN. Emissions from two or three days ago show up particularly dense across the northern half of AL with some over SE MS and NW Georgia. US Atlantic Coast and Offshore zones: Thin smoke pockets can be seen in the breaks in the clouds over a large area stretching from Long Island/CT/RI/MA, along the coastline of NJ, but back over S NJ/DE/Eastern PA and MD. The contributions to this smoke are not clearly known...likely Canadian fires but smoke over SE VA and NE NC is likely linked to the Juniper Road Fire along the SE NC coastline. E Canada: Thin and moderate smoke are being overrun by high level cirrus and baroclinic shield of clouds across Central Quebec from 57N72W as far south a the western extents of the St. Lawrence Seaway and far NE New Brunswick. This smoke was from the Lake Athabascan region fires about three to five days ago. N Alaska/Yukon Territory/NW NW Territories: Return flow across the pole has brought smoke from the Lake Athabascan fires from over a week ago that was pulled north across Nunavut. The smoke is moving SW on stronger flow but as it gets into N AK-NW NW Territories, flow from the Gulf of AK, has lead flow to weaken and squeeze toward the NW and SE in a col/confluence zone in flow.... this has lead to interesting striation patterns in the smoke with strips of moderately dense smoke likely from heavy output days with a gap to the next hvy output day... much like the rings of a tree. New fires over N Yukon and west of Great Bear Lake are contributing to low level emissions that also are stuck in a col/confluence zone and so are moving both NW and SE. Canada: Large amounts of dense smoke continue to be emitted by the fires near Lake Athabasca with moderate dense smoke contributions now coming from fires across N Alberta and SW NW Territories. All this smoke is moving E or ESE across SE NW Territories, Continental Nunavut, N Saskatchewan N Manitoba and Central Hudson Bay. Some thin to moderately dense smoke is moving northeastward in a weakness in the flow across Nunavut and the northern Islands. South-Central Canada/Northern US Plains: Thin to moderate smoke from two or three days ago that moved SW banking against the Rocky Montains... has finally drifted out toward the east with some moderately dense smoke being pulled Southeast across N ND and thin smoke as far south as SD, NE, IA and MN under the jet on the backside of strong cyclone moving across the Great Lakes. Moderately dense smoke across east-central Alberta and central Saskatchewan is beginning to merge back into the area of dense smoke described above. Gallina 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