DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z June 17, 2012
Smoke Ohio River Valley: An area of light, remnant smoke that has been tracking across the mid Mississippi and Ohio Valleys the past 24 hours is becoming more diffuse and difficult to discern, especially when mixed with cloud cover and hazy conditions over the region. It appears the area this evening was generally over southern Indiana, southwest Ohio, Kentucky and central Tennessee. This smoke is likely from the large wildfires in the desert southwest. Four Corners into the Plains: Remnant smoke from the fires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado has dispersed and spread across much of the area from northern Arizona and New Mexico, southern Colorado and into much of Kansas and southern Nebraska. Most of the smoke outside the immediate vicinity of the active fires is light density. Another area of high level aerosol that is believed to be thin smoke was also seen near sunset stretching from the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota back to the southwest through northern Nebraska, northern Colorado and into southeast Utah. While not certain of the source or composition, it may be remnant smoke from the large fires burning over the past several days that was lofted high into the atmosphere. Eastern Canada: Active and remnant smoke from large wildfires burning in eastern Labrador was drifting to the east and out into the Labrador sea. The smoke was locally moderately dense to dense over land. Dust Arizona: A broad arc of blowing dust that was generated from the outflow of a mass of thunderstorms over southeast Arizona was seen sweeping westward across southern Arizona in the late afternoon and evening. This blowing dust moved across the Phoenix metro area. Ruminski 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