DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z September 5, 2012
Idaho/Montana/Wyoming to North and Central Plains/Midwest to Southeast Canada: Numerous fires burning in Idaho along with a few in Montana and Wyoming continue to produce expansive smoke that covers a large portion of the continental US and part of Canada. Though clouds caused some obscuration over parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Ontario thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen stretching from Idaho eastward/southeastward to the Central Plains as far south as central Kansas and then northeastward towards the Great Lakes. Smoke continued from northern Michigan across southeast Ontario and southern Quebec. Some of the smoke over the Midwest was even being wrapped northward across central Ontario although clouds obscured most of the area. Central and Northern Canada/North Dakota/Minnesota: The large upper low over northern Manitoba was pulling smoke from the fires in Idaho/Montana/Wyoming northward over central Ontario with additional remnant smoke seen over Hudson Bay. Additional patches of remnant smoke were seen over the southeastern Northwest Territories near Great Slave Lake and dropping southeast over eastern North Dakota/northwest Minnesota/southern Manitoba/southwest Ontario. Smoke models indicate these two areas of remnant smoke are rotating around the upper low but their origin is not known. Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Missouri: An area of thin smoke extended from northeast Texas to southeast Missouri this morning. The remnant smoke may have originated from the Idaho/Montana/Wyoming fires or it could have come from ag burns along either the Mississippi River over central Kansas. Oregon/California: Thin smoke was seen coming from several wildfires in northern California this morning. The fires had produced an area of smoke that had drifted north that stretched from southwest to north central Oregon. Sheffler 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