DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z July 15, 2012
Canada/Northern New England: A bountiful amount of smoke was present across Canada this morning. This smoke is a result of the numerous wildfires that continue to burn across northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan. However, there are a few additional wildfires as far north as the northern portion of the Northwest Territories and as far east as central Ontario that are also contributing to the copious amounts of smoke. Within the large area of thin-density smoke, a fairly wide swath of medium-density smoke could be seen across northern Alberta/northern Saskatchewan extending eastward into Ontario this morning. This swath was intermixed with a large area of clouds over southwest Canada, hindering detection of the full extent of the thicker smoke in this area. There was another medium-density smoke plume being wrapped around the western edge of a low pressure system located over Hudson Bay, though this plume was not as significant as the previously mentioned smoke plume. Moving out into the Atlantic, a separate area of thin-to-medium density smoke could be seen over Maine/New Brunswick/St. Pierre et Miquelon. Central US: Extending south from Canada, an area of light-density smoke was visible this morning across the central US states. This smoke was likely remnant smoke from the wildfires in Canada. California: An area of light-to-medium density smoke could be seen in the region of the Flat, Mill, and Robbers wildfires in northern California. The main swath of medium-density smoke could be seen stretching southwest-to-northeast across northern Yolo/southern Colusa/Sutter/Yuba/southern Butte/central Plumas counties. -Vogt- 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