DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z July 22, 2012
Canada/Great Lakes Region: Significant smoke continues to emanate from large fires scattered primarily across northern Alberta, the southern portion of the Northwest Territories, north central Saskatchewan, central Manitoba, and west central Ontario. A huge area of thin density smoke covers a good portion of western and south central Canada to as far east as western Quebec province. Embedded within this region are swaths of moderately dense to thick smoke which are especially prevalent closer to the fires over eastern Manitoba and western Ontario. Thin to moderately dense smoke had also spread as far to the southeast as northeastern Minnesota, Lake Superior, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, northern Lake Michigan, and northern Lower Michigan just prior to sunset. Far Northeastern Canada: An area of mainly thin density smoke was visible extending from the Canadian arctic southeastward across far northeastern and eastern Canada, as well as Baffin Bay, and the Labrador Sea. This detached remnant smoke may be from the fires burning across south central and western Canada, but it may also have some contribution from the Siberian fires. Central US: Rather large fires were detected over southern South Dakota and Northern Nebraska which produced thin to locally moderately dense smoke. The smoke fanned out as it moved to the east, southeast, and eventually to the south reaching as far as northeastern Kansas. Several large moderately dense to thick smoke plumes were also visible moving to the west from fires over Oklahoma. Northwestern US/Southwestern Canada and Northwestern Canada/Southeastern Alaska: A large patch of thin density smoke was visible in between areas of clouds extending inland from the Pacific across the Pacific Northwest, the northern Rockies, and southwestern Canada. Another area was seen over southeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada. This smoke was believed to be from the ongoing fires in Siberia. Florida/Western Atlantic/Caribbean: The leading edge of a huge mass of Saharan dust which moved to the west across the Atlantic and Caribbean could be seen over central and southern Florida during the day. Southern Oregon: A small patch of blowing dust moved to the east from a dry lake bed in central Lake County of south central Oregon. JS 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