DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0500Z August 03, 2012
Northern US: Fires burning in California are responsible for a large area of remnant smoke that stretches from northern California across Nevada and Idaho. Fires burning in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are also producing massive amounts of smoke that has pushed eastward across the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Together these areas of remnant smoke cover much of the Northern US between California and the Great lakes. Regions of moderate and thick-density smoke were observed close to source fires. Lower Great Lakes/Middle Atlantic: A region of thin-density remnant smoke is visible over western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and western Virginia. This smoke likely originated from the fires burning in California, Idaho, and Montana. Aleutians: An aerosol moving across the western Aleutians continues to be seen moving eastward in cloud-free regions. This is believed to be remnant smoke from fires burning in Asia. Northwestern Canada: Fires burning in the Northwest Territories, near the southeast shore of Great Bear Lake, continued to produce large amounts of smoke throughout the day. Smoke has spread northward with moderate to thick density smoke extending along the Nunavut border. LP 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