DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 17, 2012
US: Smoke from the numerous large Western wildfires was seen stretching from coast to coast across the middle of the country this evening. An unusually large area was moderate to dense smoke, although most of this was elevated above the surface. The smoke stretched from Oregon eastward across southern Idaho and northern Nevada across portions of Colorado and Wyoming, Kansas and adjacent states into the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes states and into western New York. Much of this area was covered in moderately dense smoke. Thin smoke extended further into New England and the mid Atlantic and also into southeast Ontario and western Quebec. A large complex of thunderstorms over Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio precluded smoke observation in this area. Canada: Mostly patchy light smoke was seen this evening over portions of central and northern British Columbia and Alberta. Much of this is remnant smoke from fires burning in British Columbia with possibly some old smoke from Siberian fires mixed in. There was also fresh smoke mixing in from active fires in northern British Columbia. Blowing Dust: An arc of dust was seen stretching across the northern Gulf of Mexico from the southeast coast of Texas to an area just off the southeast tip of Louisiana. This is Saharan dust that has crossed the Atlantic. 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