Saturday, July 28, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z July 28, 2012

North Central US:
A huge expanse of thin density smoke that has mainly originated from
wildfires in Canada is covering parts of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the
Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and the Great Lakes. A
significantly smaller smoke contribution comes from smoke producing
fires in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Great Slave Lake/Lake Athabasca Region:
Several dense-smoke producing wildfires continue to burn along the
Alberta-Northwest Territories border in Canada. Light density remnant
smoke encompasses the majority of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and
the Hudson Bay while a thin ribbon of moderate density smoke is observed
stretching across the northern portion of these provinces.

Eastern Manitoba/Western Ontario:
More large wildfires are active in east Central Manitoba whose
remnant smoke stretches over northern Ontario, James' Bay, and much of
Quebec. Detached smoke is moderate to dense over most of Ontario.

Northwestern Canada:
An area of aerosol presumed to be smoke from both fires in Siberia and
fires in southern Northwest Territories is observed over the eastern
portion of Yukon Territory, the western portion of Northwest Territories,
and parts of northern British Columbia. Smoke is light in density.

Western Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico:
Saharan dust is visible this morning stretching over the Bahamas,
southern Florida, and the central Gulf of Mexico.


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.