DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z September 5, 2011
Northwest US: A broad area of remnant smoke extends across northwest Wyoming, western Montana, northern and central Idaho, most of Washington and Oregon, and out over the Pacific Ocean. More than half of the mentioned area is covered in moderate to very dense smoke, while the other portion is thin in density. This smoke originated from dozens of large wildfires including those in the High Cascades, the far northwest corner of Washington State, and those near the Idaho/Montana border. Smoke is generally moving in the eastward direction. California: Two large wildfires located approximately three quarters of the way down central California are producing very dense smoke this evening. Smoke is traveling to the north and northeast of their sources. Moderate to very dense smoke stretches from central Kern County, CA across Inyo County, CA to the Nevada border. Central Plains: A remnant area of thin density smoke with an embedded band of moderate density smoke is observed mainly in Lincoln and Kit Carson counties in eastern Colorado but also extends into west central Kansas. The source of the smoke is from numerous large wildfires in Washington/Oregon/Idaho/Wyoming. Texas/Oklahoma: Smoke covers the central and eastern portions of Texas and Oklahoma this evening. While some contribution is likely days old smoke from the fires in the northwest US, the majority of the smoke currently observed is from several blazes in Texas and Oklahoma including the Comanche County, OK wildfire in the Wichita Mountains. The main smoke producing fires are located in south central Texas near Austin and are emitting smoke as far south as Corpus Christi. The perimeter of the thin density remnant smoke plume extends from northern Mexico near the Texas border north and east as far as Arkansas. 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