DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 30, 2011
Lower Mississippi Valley: A large number of what are believed to be mainly agricultural fires were analyzed across far southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas. Numerous smaller smoke plumes were visible which moved mainly to the east and southeast during the day. By late in the day, some of these plumes had combined to form somewhat larger patches of smoke. South Central Canada/Northern North Dakota: Numerous seasonal burns were also detected across southeastern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, and northern North Dakota. Many smoke plumes were also analyzed moving primarily to the southeast during the afternoon. Northwestern US: Fires producing visible smoke plumes were scattered across Oregon, Washington, northern and central Idaho, western Montana, and northwestern Wyoming. The most concentrated area of fires and smoke was over north central Idaho and western Montana. In this region, thin to moderately dense smoke plumes combined to form a bit larger area of smoke over north central Idaho and western Montana. Some blowing dust may also be present especially over north central Oregon and southeastern Washington, although it is possible that the aerosol seen in this region may also be composed of smoke. A more certain patch of blowing dust was observed moving to the northeast from a point source in Lake County in south central Oregon. Arizona: At least a handful of fires extending from north central to south central Arizona were emitting thin to moderately dense smoke which covered portions of northern and central Arizona. JS 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