DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z June 9, 2012
Dust/Sand: California: Honey Lake in S Lassen county is producing a narrow (15km wide) line of thin to moderately dense dust that is blowing due east about 150km into central Pershing county NV. Nevada: The Carson Sink of western Churchill county is producing moderate to dense sand that is about 45 km wide but has been shifting from moving toward the NE into far SW Elko county about 235km and thins out to thin density; toward moving a bit south of due east cover all of N Churchill county across Lander county to the Eureka county line (about 150-175km from the source). The Dry Lake bed in Gabbs Valley (NE Mineral county) is producing dense sand that is funneling SE along the terrain of of the Mineral/Nye county line and extends about 90km. Utah: A very small (high albedo) desert feature on the eastern flanks of the San Francisco Range in S Millard county near the town of Black Rock is producing a moderate to very dense narrow (less than 5km wide) plume of sand that extends NE across Millard county to around Delta,UT... where it begins to meld into a larger fan of thin dust and sand originating from the Sevier Desert (particularly the eastern portion of the desert) across Millard and Juab counties. The fan of dust sand is on average about 20-30km wide and extends NE across Utah Lake along the eastern flanks of the Uinta mountains and into central Uinta county, WY. Arizona: Thin dust/sand from the Cactus Plain and Colorado River Indian Res. in western La Paz county is moving N into far SW Mohave county. A very small desert (high albedo feature) in W Green Lee county near Morenci, AZ is producing a small plume of thin to moderately dense sand that is moving east into the Whitewater-Baldy fire complex smoke plumes. Smoke: Central Plains: Remnant smoke from the Whitewater-Baldy complex, Little Sand Fire (CO) and a few Mexican fires in N Sonora/Chihuahua over the past few days has stagnated over Oklahoma/KS but stronger winds today have begun pulling the smoke N across E Nebraska, far NW IA, to the leading edge into Minnesota, N WI and the UP of MI where it becomes obscured by cloudiness. There is likely some contribution of this hazy area seen in low sun angles is also contributed from ag burns across KS/OK as well as sulfates/pollution from urban areas as well... Carolina coastline: Numerous ag burns across the coastal plain of North Carolina today have congealed to a large area of thin smoke that has been moving SE into the Atlantic. Canada: Smoke from large wildfires across Saskatchewan/Alberta and the NW Territories has been pulled SE under strong flow on the backside of the large polar trof over Hudson Bay. Thin smoke can be see along cloud boundaries across N Ontario into E Quebec and James Bay. Gallina 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