DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0255Z August 11, 2012
Alaska/Beaufort Sea/Northern Yukon and Northwest Territories: A stretched out area of light remnant smoke can be seen over northern Alaska and far northwestern Canada. This smoke is believed to be high level smoke from Siberia that has tracked eastward across the northern Pacific Ocean. Canada: Thin to moderately dense smoke plume continues to cover most of western and central Canada this evening. Plume extends from Vancouver Island then northeast over British Columbia and across eastern Northwester Territories as it rounds the top of the ridge of high pressure. Smoke then drifts southeastward across Central Canada and Central U.S. Thin smoke is seen further east over much of Hudson Bay, Ontario and western Quebec. Smoke is likely comprised of both large fires burning across northern Alberta and central Saskatchewan along with additional remnant smoke from Siberian wildfires. Northern and Central Plains: Large area of thin density remnant smoke is seen across most of the Central and northern Plain and even extends as far south as the Texas coast. Moderate dense smoke embedded in this smoke plume extends from southern Saskatchewan/southern Manitoba provinces of Canada southward to northeaster portions of Texas. Smoke is likely due to three separate source points; first being from Siberian wildfires, second from wildfires in Alberta/Saskatchewan and third from wildfires burning across the northwestern U.S. Northwestern U.S.: Several large wildfires are seen producing more heavy dense smoke over California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho this evening. This is only adding to the previous days remnant smoke that still remains across area. Another plume of smoke is drifting south and east from the eastern Pacific Ocean over western Washington/Oregon, which originated from wildfires burning across Siberia. Warren 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