DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 16, 2011
Northwestern US/Western Canada: The narrow band of thin density aerosols extending from Oregon northeastward through central Saskatchewan is still visible during the late afternoon and early evening. This aerosol was analyzed as smoke in the web site graphics, although the source for this ribbon of possible smoke was uncertain. Central US: A large area of aerosol was visible through the day across the Central US extending from Minnesota southward through Texas. Some of this aerosol was depicted as smoke in the web site graphics, though it is not known how much of the aerosol is actually composed of leftover smoke since it has circulated around and under the large upper level ridge over the middle of the country for a number of days. Canada: Wildfires in eastern Manitoba and especially western Ontario were emitting large amounts of smoke during the day which moved primarily to the north and northeast across northern Ontario and Hudson Bay. Cloudiness moved over the region late in the day which interfered with additional smoke information in satellite imagery. Northwestern Canada: A narrow band of possible leftover smoke was analyzed from the extreme northwestern portion of Canada eastward across far north central Canada. It is not exactly known where this smoke originated, but it is most likely from ongoing fires in northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and the Northern Territories. This afternoon, significant cloudiness covered the region where these fires were located which prevented smoke detection in satellite imagery. JS 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