Sunday, September 4, 2011

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

 


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.