DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 4, 2012
Eastern two thirds of the US: The smoke situation this morning is similar to last evening with a broad area of smoke observed over much of the nation from the Rockies and Intermountain West eastward to the Atlantic seaboard. The smoke is originating from numerous large wildfires that have been burning for several days to weeks mainly in Wyoming, Montana and Utah. The most dense smoke was found over eastern Wyoming, extreme southeastern Montana and southwest South Dakota as well as in a stripe from central South Dakota northeastward into southeastern North Dakota and central Minnesota. Residual moderately dense smoke was found over portions of the western Great Lakes, northeastern Kansas and northern Missouri. Pacific Northwest, southern Alberta, and Saskatchewan: A ribbon of light residual smoke crossed the West Coast in Oregon and extended across southeast Washington and southern Alberta before turning north through Saskatchewan. This smoke is believed to have originated from wildfires burning in Russia's Far East. 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