Sunday, August 28, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z August 29, 2011

Texas/Northern Gulf of Mexico/Northern and Central Florida:
An elongated area of what appears to be mostly smoke, possibly mixed in
with other aerosols and Saharan dust, extends from southeast Texas across
the northern and central portions of the Gulf of Mexico, through central
Florida, and north into the western Atlantic along the US mid-Atlantic
states. This remnant smoke has predominantly originated from the wildfires
in the Montana/Idaho region. Additionally, a significant fire south of
Lake Pontchartrain is producing moderately to very dense smoke that is
moving southward into the northern Gulf of Mexico. This fire is adding
to the large swath of smoke currently in the northern and central Gulf.

Idaho/Montana
A large area of thin density remnant smoke is present over eastern
Washington, northern Idaho, much of Montana, and northern Wyoming. This
smoke has originated from several fires that have been burning through
the Idaho and western Montana region over the past several days. Areas
of moderately dense smoke were observed through breaks in the clouds
stretching mainly over western Montana near the source of the fires. It
is likely that leftover smoke from previous days still exists in the
vicinity, in addition to new smoke from today.

Pacific Northwest:
Fires in Oregon continue to emit smoke that covers much of central Oregon
and far south central Washington this evening. The remnant smoke is mainly
thin density but has areas of embedded moderate smoke located close to
the sources. This is a rough analysis as cloud cover has prevented the
detection of individual smoke plumes.


Ramirez

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.