Thursday August 9, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0500Z August 10, 2012

Alaska/Beaufort Sea:
A large area of remnant smoke is seen over the Aleutians, western
and northern Alaska, far northwestern Canada, and parts of the Arctic
Sea. This is likely remnant, high level smoke from Siberia.

Canada:
An expansive area of thin to moderately dense smoke is present
across a large portion of Canada this evening. Smoke stretches from
Vancouver Island northeast across British Columbia as far north as
the Northwest Territories/Nunavut eastward to Quebec and as far south
as the US border/northern Minnesota. Additional remnant smoke is seen
off Labrador stretching northeast to Greenland. This is likely smoke
from the numerous fires continuing to burn through British Columbia,
southern Yukon, southern Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba. Smoke from Siberian wildfires is likely mixed in as well
though, being the main component of the smoke that is approaching/covering
British Columbia.

Western US/Northern and Central Plains:
A very large area of light and moderately dense remnant smoke can still be
seen this evening stretching from portions of northern California/Oregon,
eastward into the northern and central Plains. Large wildfires continue
to burn throughout the western US through California, Nevada, Idaho,
and Montana and are leading to this large area of smoke as it moves
eastward. The smoke was diving southeast across the Central Plains this
evening reaching as far south and east as northern Texas, northwest
Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois.

Lower Mississippi River Valley/Northeast Texas:
An area of smoke from densely populated ag fires along the Mississippi
River along with a few wildfires in the region had produced an area of
mostly thin smoke from northeast Texas eastward to western Mississippi.

Gulf of Mexico/Southeast US Coast:
Elevated dust believed to have originated from Africa's Saharan Desert
are seen covering the northern Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and along the
coast of the Southeastern US.

Sheffler

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.