DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z August 19, 2012
Currently: Pacific Northwest: An area of thick density remnant smoke, embedded in a massive area of thin-density smoke that covers much of the Pacific Northwest/Rocky Mountains/southern Plains, spread across Idaho, southwest Wyoming, and northern Utah this evening as fires in the region continued to emit smoke throughout the day. British Columbia/Alberta/Northwest Territories: Numerous wildfires in British Columbia and along the border of Alberta/Northwest Territories burned throughout the day, contributing to a large area of moderate to thick density remnant smoke. Remnant smoke is moving northeastward across the Northwest Territories. Hawaii: A fire in Kauai is responsible for a long smoke plume moving northwestward off the island. -LP Earlier Today: US: Light remnant smoke remains stretched from the Pacific Northwest through the central and southern Rockies and southern Plains before being stretched along a front from the northern Gulf of Mexico through the Mid-Atlantic and off the East Coast towards Newfoundland. Along the front in the east the smoke becomes more of a medium dense smoke from Louisiana and off East Coast. Areas of medium dense smoke are also present in Texas and well as Oklahoma and into New Mexico. A larger area of medium dense smoke stretches from western Kansas, northwestward into British Columbia with a very dense area over central and southern Idaho where the wildfires are concentrated. All of this smoke is from the various wildfires that have been burning in the western US over the past several days. Canada: An area of light to heavy dense smoke persists across much of British Columbia and Alberta and into the Yukon/Northwest Territories. This smoke is an extension of the smoke that stretches across the US. The smoke is remnant from the various fires in the western US as well as fires in western Canada over the past several days. An area of light to medium smoke remains over the Hudson Bay and into Ontario and Quebec. The remnant smoke from US and western Canadian fires remains circulating on the other edge of a low pressure system over the eastern Hudson Bay. -Liddick 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