DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z August 12, 2012
Alaska/Yukon/Northwest Territories/Northeast British Columbia/Northern Alberta: A large area of light and some moderately dense remnant smoke can be seen covering much of central Alaska and into northwestern Canada. Additional high smoke is seen over portions of the Bering Sea. This smoke is believed to be high level smoke from Siberia that has tracked eastward across the Arctic and northern Pacific Ocean. Central and Eastern Canada: Light to moderately dense remnant smoke continues to cover much of central Canada, including southern Alberta, most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and northern Ontario, eastward across Hudson Bay and into northwest Quebec. This very large area of smoke is likely a mix of remnant smoke from the large fires burning across northern British Columbia/Alberta and central Saskatchewan and fires burning in the Western US along with additional remnant smoke from Siberian wildfires. Western US to the western Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley: The numerous large wildfires burning across Idaho, Nevada and California continue to spread smoke eastward across much of the western two thirds of the country. Mainly light to moderately dense smoke was over the northern Plains into the western Great Lakes with an extension further south over eastern Missouri and Arkansas into southern and eastern Texas and over the northern Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle. A broad area of moderately dense to very dense smoke was closer to the fires and covered most of northern California, Oregon, northern Nevada and all but far northern Idaho. A large fire in the southern Sierras was also producing smoke that was lifting to the northwest over the central valley of California toward San Francisco. Ruminski 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