Thursday, July 26, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z July 27, 2012


Canada/Northern and Central US:
Wildfires scattered across a large region stretching from northwestern
to south central Canada continue to emit large quantities of smoke. An
enormous area of thin density smoke extends from northwestern
Canada across much of central Canada to southeastern Canada and the
Canadian Maritimes. Embedded within this large area are patches of
moderately dense to thick smoke. Thin to moderately dense smoke had
also spread southeastward across portions of the Dakotas and northern
Minnesota. Farther to the east, the band moved over Lake Superior,
northern Lake Huron and possibly northern Maine. To the south, mainly
thin density smoke was located over the Central Plains. Some of the
smoke over the Plains was due to fires burning in that region.

Northwestern US/Southwestern Canada:
Aerosol believed to be remnant smoke from the Siberian fires was detected
in visible imagery along the Washington and Oregon coastline and southern
British Columbia.

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
An area of aerosol, presumed to be smoke from fires in Siberia, extended
across central Alaska into the Northwest Territories of northwestern
Canada. Another patch of aerosol linked to the Siberian fires was visible
just ahead of an area of cloudiness over the Bering Sea.

Nevada:
A couple of swaths of thin density blowing dust originated from sources
in south central Nevada and moved to the north during the afternoon and
early evening.

Southeast US/Middle Atlantic:
A combination of smoke from US and Canadian fires as well as other
pollutants was located across much of the Southeast, Middle Atlantic,
and offshore.

Florida and Gulf Coast States:
Dust from the Saharan Desert was moving west across Florida into the
Gulf of Mexico and northward into southeastern Texas and southwestern
Louisiana.

JS/MT


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.