DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z September 12 2011
Pacific Northwest: Several large wildfires that have been active for the past week in western Washington and western Oregon continue to burn and emit smoke. The thin density remnant smoke plume covers central and northern Oregon, all of Washington, and the southern parts of British Columbia. Moderate to very dense smoke is observed mainly in the western parts of Oregon and Washington close to the sources of the fires. Northern US border/southern Canada/central Ontario Clusters of fires in 1. Idaho/Montana, 2. North Dakota/northern Minnesota/southern Manitoba, and 3. Central Ontario, in addition to the fires in Washington/Oregon, are collectively responsible for an extensive area of remnant smoke that stretches from the northwest coast of the US along the US/Canada border all the way east to Lake Superior and as far northeast as James Bay. An elongated plume of moderate density smoke with an embedded strip of thick smoke is observed over southern Manitoba and southern and central Ontario. Additionally, the Pagami Creek wildfire in Lake County, MN is emitting very dense smoke in the southeastern direction this evening that extends into north central Wisconsin. Lower Mississippi Valley: Patches of thin density remnant smoke are seen in Arkansas and Louisiana from small fires in the region. Also, larger wildfires in east Texas are producing moderate density smoke that is traveling in the eastward direction. 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