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