Wednesday, September 12, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z September 12, 2012

Eastern Canada/Northeast US:
A large area of thin smoke from ID/MT fires from this weekend has drifted
over NE North America and into the north Atlantic.   Currently it covers
E Ontario/nearly all of Quebec, New York, New England, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, PEI and the eastern portion of Newfoundland...as well as
covering the Gulf of Maine and about 50km off shore from New York to
Cape Cod then about 200km SE of Nova Scotia.

The smoke is moderately to dense in consistency across ME, MA, RI and
in an E-W line from Cape Cod to 41N60W.  This area is moving due South
or just East of due South (SE across N ME) along the backside of the
large Atlantic Trof.

US Northwest:
Nearly all smoke plumes are still connected to their source fires however,
the large complexes along the MT/ID boarder and further west along the
Salmon River Valley are producing dense smoke within all the valleys
of the Bitterroot and Clearwater Ranges in ID into western MT but some
thin to moderately dense smoke is leaking SE through the valleys between
the Lost River, Lemhi and Beaverhead Mtn ranges pouring out into the
upper Snake River plain where it is descending toward the SW Rupert and
American Falls.   Very little of the smoke from these fires is high enough
in elevation to be moving east except for a small area over Yellowstone
NP into N WY.

The large fire complexes ringing the Colombian Plateau of Washington
produced moderately dense smoke that moved due east last night but wind
shifts have anticyclonically curled the smoke back toward the west and
northwest banking it against the Cascade and Kettle River Range.  Most of
the smoke emitted late last night has been trapped in the valleys and
moving due west through the gaps to the valleys west of the Cascade Range.

The Pole Creek Fire of Central Oregon Cascades is producing thin smoke
that is moving west into the Willamette Valley but continues SW across
the coastal range near Cape Blanco but once off shore covers the coastal
region of SW OR and NW CA (though some of this is likely contribution
from Ward and Bagley fires of N CA as well).

Gallina

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.