DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z June 12, 2012
Smoke: New England/Mid-Atlantic: Moderately dense to dense smoke (with likely embedded haze/pollutants from eastern US cites) can be traced back to CO/NM fires emitted a few days ago. The smoke covers from S ME across NH, MA, RI, CT, downstate NY, NJ, extreme E PA, DE, and MD...thinning out across E VA and eastern NC. This smoke is moving E then SE into the Atlantic from 45N to 32N out to 65W...where it interacts with the draping front from the remnants of TS Chris E-W between 32-34N out to 50W. The most dense area extends from DE/NJ out to see around 70W. Central Plains: Last night's smoke output from the Dump fire in UT (and unnamed fire west of the Great Salt Lake) High Park and Little Sand Fires of CO is stringing out in a broad arc from central WY into the Panhandle and SW Nebraska, covering all of KS and OK. Most of the smoke is thin to moderate with a pocket of moderate to dense drifting ENE across W NE attm. TX/LA/AR: Thin smoke is rotating back W and SW around the eastern side of the ridge covering LA, AR and TX as far west as the Pecos Mtns but not into Mexico yet (and is connected to the aforementioned Central Plains area). This smoke is detected well in high oblique sun angle on GOES-West but not well detected on GOES-East...so it may extend further east and likely why it could not be tracked yesterday evening. It is likely the smoke is from the NM and CO fires a 2 or 3 days ago. Northern Great Plains/S MN/WI: A broad area of very thin haze could be seen in high oblique sun angel across S Saskatchewan, S Manitoba, ND, N MN into WI... this area is likely a combination of smoke from the CO/UT fires and the woodland fires of N Alberta, Saskatchewan and the NW Territories. The leading edge in S MN and WI is a bit more dense to confirm smoke content and is likely traced back to the smoke feature seen last night across Alberta. Manitoba/Ontario: Two smaller pockets of moderately to dense smoke from N Alberta and fire just E of Reindeer Lake can be seen moving SE across N Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba and W Ontario (NW of Lake Nipigon). NM/CO: Beside the very low but very dense valley smoke around the High Park and Little Sand Fire and area of thin smoke can be seen in NE NM and SE CO this smoke is moving north and appears to be lower level below the top of the front range... and is likely from the Little Bear fire in S NM. Arizona: Thin smoke from the Poco fire has elongated N to S across E AZ and extends to the Four Corners in the north and just across the US/Mexico boarder near Santa Cruz county. The area is about 100km wide and though it extended to the south last night appears to be moving more NE and E now. NW Mexico/Sea of Cortez: Moderately dense smoke is the leading edge moving W and WNW across the Sea of Cortez to the Mountain Ridge of Baja California Sur. This smoke is from the numerous large fires across the Sierra Madre Occidental over S Sonora, S Chihuahua and NE Sinaloa. Thinner smoke is wafting North across S Sonora and is nearing the aforementioned Arizona smoke. Canadian Territories/N Alaska: Very large fires across the Northern Yukon Territory has lead to a very large area of thin to moderate smoke with embedded moderate to dense smoke (nearer the source fires). The NW AK fires are mostly producing thinner smoke that can be seen banked up on the northern flanks of the Brooks range into NE AK and the Arctic Ocean. The Yukon fire output is moving NE and E in the low levels covering N Yukon thw far NW NW Territories...but a tightly rotating anticyclone aloft is full of smoke and covers all the rest of the NW Territories and is starting to expand into extreme N Alberta and NW Saskatchewan. 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