DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 26, 2011
Southern Canada/Northwest US: Thick smoke again emanated from several fires in northwestern Wyoming during the day. The smoke spread mainly in a north and northeast direction reaching south central Montana just prior to sunset. Detached thin to moderately dense smoke from these fires as well as ones burning in eastern Idaho and western Montana was visible again during the afternoon and early evening extending from south central Wyoming northward to central Alberta and central Saskatchewan in Canada. Cloudiness moved across Idaho and western Montana during the afternoon which interfered with information concerning smoke extent and density in that region. Arizona: Moderately dense to locally thick smoke from a fire in south central Arizona moved in a northward direction during the afternoon and evening. Thinner density smoke from this fire extended as far north as southern Utah. North Dakota/Northern Minnesota/South Central Canada: Numerous fires which were believed to be primarily agricultural burns were analyzed again during the day across portions of North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, southeastern Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. A number of relatively small smoke plumes were detected with these fires. Please refer to the graphics on the web pages below for more information on these fires and smoke plumes. JS Earlier this Morning... Central Plains: An area of what is presumed to be mainly remnant smoke is present in the central plains over the far eastern Dakotas, southern Minnesota, all of Iowa, northern Missouri, and western portions of Illinois and Wisconsin. The smoke density is difficult to discern due to a high level cloud shield associated with low pressure system in the area, but gaps in the clouds as well as aerosol optical depth measurements indicate that the smoke is of thin to moderate density. The origin of this smoke is from several large wildfires located in Idaho and Wyoming that were producing heavy smoke yesterday and days prior. 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