Wednesday, August 17, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z August 178, 2011

Mid-Atlantic:
The Lateral West fire has been generating moderately dense to dense smoke
throughout the day and is moving westward into south/central Virginia
and northeast NC.

Florida Panhandle/Northern Gulf of Mexico:
A couple of rather large fires along the panhandle of Florida have been
producing light to moderately dense smoke which is moving to the south
into the northern Gulf of Mexico. This smoke is mixing with lighter,
remnant smoke just off the Florida Panhandle to along the Louisiana
coast and near the northeast Texas coastline.

Northern Plains:
A couple of fires through northern Minnesota and extreme southern Manitoba
and Ontario are creating very elongated smoke plumes that are extending
well eastward from their point source this evening.

Central South Dakota:
An area of light, remnant smoke could be seen moving eastward through
western and central South Dakota this evening. This is most likely smoke
left over from the Ray may Fire in Nevada as well as the many other
numerous fires that have been burning out west over the previous days.

Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho/Western Montana:
Numerous fires through central and western Washington as well as
through northern Idaho have created a larger area of smoke moving
eastward. Some embedded moderately dense smoke can be seen through
northeastern Idaho. Another large fire see in Flathead National Forest
in northwestern Montana is creating a very large and dense smoke plume
extending well over 300 miles to the east.

Nevada/Southern Idaho/western Wyoming:
The Ray May Fire along the Nevada/California border continues to produce
a very large area of moderately dense to dense smoke which is moving the
the northeast.  This area of smoke extends into parts of southern and
central Idaho and then further northeastward into portions of western
Wyoming this evening.

-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.