DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 17, 2012
Pacific Northwest to the western Great Lakes and James Bay: All of the remnant smoke observed this morning/afternoon/evening can be attributed to the numerous wildfires burning in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. A large swath of smoke extends eastward across these states and into the Dakotas and Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, northern Missouri, northern Illinois and then lifts to the northeast across central Ontario to James Bay. Areas of moderate to dense smoke include western Washington and western Oregon, central Idaho and southern Montana, and a large portion of the northern central plains and the Great Lakes region. Kansas and New Mexico: From earlier today- There was a more narrow branch of the smoke from the western wildfires that was dropping to the south and southwest across western Kansas and eastern New Mexico into northern Mexico (Chihuahua). This was an area of light smoke. Update-This narrow band of light density remnant smoke has continued to be visible moving east over the Texas panhandle and west Texas, and as far south as eastern Chihuahua through sunset this evening. Ramirez/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