Friday August 17, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z August 17, 2012

US:
Remnant smoke from the large wildfires that continue to burn out west has
now stretched across the entire US today from the west coast into New
England/Atlantic Ocean. The smoke is mostly moderately thick-to-thick
in density and is fairly zonal in nature but then continues to spread
northeastward into Maine just ahead of the cold frontal boundary pushing
through the northeast US. The area of thickest smoke resided across
Oklahoma/Kansas/Arkansas/Missouri and into the western portions of the
Tennessee Valley. Most impressively was the area of moderate smoke visible
in GOES EAST imagery this morning along the Mid-Atlantic/New England
seaboard, which has traveled across the country in a matter of days.

British Columbia:
A small area of light-to-moderately dense smoke was visible in northern
British Columbia this morning. This smoke can be attributed to the
wildfires that continue to burn across the area.

-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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.