DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z August 08, 2012
Western Two-Thirds of US: A large area of thin-density smoke covered much of the western two-thirds of the US as a result of a large number of wildfires across the West. Moderate to isolated heavy dense smoke was found over portions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. Eastern Third of US and Gulf Coast: The large area of light haze which covered much of the Midwest and Gulf Coast region was mostly due to sulfates, but may also contain residual smoke from fires in Canada and in the western US. Canada: Moderate residual smoke from fires in Far East Russia was located over Hudson Bay. Much of the remainder of central Canada lie under light residual smoke from fires located in Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. 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