DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 13, 2012
Northwestern US/Central Plains: A fairly broad area of medium-to-thick density smoke was visible across the northwestern US this morning stretching from northern California eastward through Wyoming. As the day progressed, this area moved southeastward into western Nebraska, northern Colorado, and northwest Kansas. A larger area of light smoke was also present, extending from the Oregon coastline into the Dakotas and southward towards Oklahoma. An additional small area of thin-density smoke stretched across southern Texas/Arkansas/Louisiana moving westward. These large areas of remnant smoke likely originated from the numerous wildfires burning in northern California/Idaho/Nevada that continued to emit large amounts of smoke this afternoon. Canada: A large area of thin-density remnant smoke could be seen across the Northwest Territories/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Ontario/northern Quebec intermixing with clouds in the region this morning. An area of medium-density smoke was also visible wrapping around the large surface low and was located in the southern portion of the Northwest Territories/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Ontario. These areas of smoke, which are likely a mix of remnant smoke from Canadian and Siberian wildfires, were dropping southeastward into the Great Lakes Region of the US. This evening, the leading edge the the medium-density smoke was visible pushing across the US/Canadian border into northern Minnesota and North Dakota. -LP/Vogt- 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