Friday, July 13, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 14, 2012

United States:
Much of the northwestern US, Rocky Mountain Range, and western central
plains are covered by thin density remnant smoke. This smoke likely
originated from the recent large wildfires in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming,
Idaho, and Montana, and the current large wildfires burning in northern
California and Oregon. Areas of moderate density smoke include northern
California and Oregon, as well as patches in southern Canada, the Dakotas,
and a ribbon of smoke over the Great Lakes stretching east over New
England and out to the Atlantic.

Canada:
Several large wildfires located on the Alberta-Northwest Territories
border continue to produce heavy smoke. Other significant smoke producing
fires are burning near Great Slave Lake in central Northwest Territories,
in north-central Saskatchewan, in eastern Saskatchewan to the south of
Reindeer Lake, and in central Manitoba. Collectively these fires are
responsible for a broad area of remnant light density smoke that covers
most of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, western Ontario, the Hudson Bay,
and northern Quebec out to the Atlantic Ocean. Moderate to dense smoke
is present mainly near the sources of the fires out to 200-300km.

Ramirez


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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.