DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 16, 2012
Currently: US West/Central Rockies/Central Plains: Complex fires in N California, Oregon, Idaho, W Montana and Wyoming continue to produce large areas of moderately dense to dense smoke. The dense smoke from earlier in the day and previous day is now reaching parts of the Central Plains including the states of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Thinner smoke is reaching as far east as the Mississippi Valley extending from S Minnesota and Wisconsin to N Texas and Louisiana. Northern British Columbia: Several wildfires have broken out across the northern section of the region producing moderately dense to dense smoke moving east. Earlier Today: US West/Central Rockies: Numerous large complexes of fires across N CA, OR, N NV, ID, W MT and WY are producing a large amount of moderate to very dense smoke across much of the West (including N CA, S 1/3rd of OR, N 1/3rd of NV, S ID, all of WY, all of CO, all of NE and all but far SE KS). The valleys of CA and ID area particularly dense at the surface. Much of the smoke above 10,000ft is moving progressively east with a slight southward change trajectory over the Plain states. Nova Scotia: Thin smoke can be seen moving east off over E Nova Scotia into the Atlantic south of Newfoundland. Labrador Strait: Thin smoke can be seen swirling around a highly amplified ridge across/anticyclone across the Labrador Sea, covering coastal regions of Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador. This smoke is likely from output from Canadian fires more than a week ago. Western Canada: A large trof centered over Hudson Bay is pulling thin to moderate smoke down across the Yukon/NW Territories into Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, W Ontario, over the Great Lakes and Michigan. The smoke comes from ongoing Canadian fire output over the last few weeks (as it appears to be coming back from over the poles as well) as well as some contribution from them over the last few days as well. J Kibler 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