DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z September 18, 2011
Southeastern US/Gulf of Mexico: A relatively narrow moderately dense smoke plume was visible moving to the southwest and over northern Florida from an ongoing fire in southeastern Georgia. A larger mass of thin density smoke was also seen off the west coast of Florida over the eastern Gulf of Mexico drifting slowly to the west and southwest. This smoke was believed to be primarily from the southeastern Georgia fire with some contribution likely as well from smaller fires over Florida. Southern California: Thin to moderately dense smoke fanned out in multiple directions from a fire in north central Los Angeles County. The main portion of the smoke moved to the southwest and across the Los Angeles metro area during the afternoon and early evening hours. Idaho/Montana: Considerable cloudiness over the region greatly interfered with fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. A few fires were detected but only a very small patch of smoke was visible between breaks in the clouds over north central Idaho. JS Earlier this morning... Minnesota/Lake Superior/Ontario: The Pagami Creek wildfire in northeast Minnesota continues to emit thin to moderate density smoke. An area of attached smoke to the wildfire moved generally north throughout the morning hours. Detached smoke north of Lake Superior is believed to be from Pagami Creek. Due to considerable cloudiness across the nation, smoke and dust detection was difficult this morning. Myrga 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