DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 18, 2012
US: Remnant smoke is mixed with new smoke from the many large wildfires across Idaho, Washington, Oregon and northern California and stretches across the entire US from the Pacific northwest coast into the Great Basin and central Rockies through the central into northern Texas, across the lower Mississippi Valley and the Tennessee Valley and then curving back up the Atlantic seaboard from the coastal Carolinas into New England and Nova Scotia. Much of the area had moderate density smoke, although elevated above the surface. Areas of dense smoke were seen from New England down to the mid Atlantic coast and in patches across Wyoming, Colorado and western Kansas. Larger areas of dense smoke were observed near the fires in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California. A branch of thin smoke was also seen moving to the west southwest across southern California and into the Pacific. This is smoke which has circulated clockwise around the Great Basin from the fires in northern California and Idaho. British Columbia: An expansive area of smoke was seen from numerous fires that are now burning across northern British Columbia, the southeast Yukon Territory, extreme southwest Northwest Territories and northwest Alberta. The smoke is spreading eastward and nearly reaching Lake Athabasca. 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