DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z September 21, 2011
Great Lakes/Midwest/Central and Southern Plains: As an upper low slowly progresses eastward across the north central US states, GOES-W imagery this morning showed a plume of aerosol that stretched from east Lake Superior/Lake Huron/Michigan southwest to eastern Oklahoma/northwest Arkansas. Much of this aerosol is believed to be elevated dust, sulfates, and other aerosols that have been transported across the center of the country by the upper low. Another patch of aerosol that does not seem to be connected is seen over the eastern third of Texas. This aerosol could be very thin remnant smoke from fires in the southern Plains but it cannot be certain. Northwest Canada: A plume of aerosol could be seen this morning lifting northeastward across the Northwest Territories. It is not known whether this is elevated dust particles from Asia or other unknown aerosols. Sheffler 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