DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z June 23, 2013
Smoke: US: The majority of the central US Plains is covered by light to heavy density smoke where the thickest smoke extends from northeast Colorado across Kansas and Oklahoma. There is also a moderate density area of smoke that extends from the northern Plains southward into the lower Mississippi Valley. This source of the majority of this remnant and new smoke is likely the very large wildfires in northern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. There are also numerous agricultural burns throughout the lower Mississippi Valley this afternoon and evening which is adding to the large area of smoke that is slowly marching eastward towards the southeastern US. Ohio Valley/Mid-Atlantic: A band of what appears to be light smoke mixed with possible aerosols can be seen stretching from Ohio through the Mid-Atlantic states and off the southern New England coast. This is likely from the remnant smoke out west mixed with some smoke that is dropping southward from eastern Canada. A strong area of High pressure centered over the Tennessee Valley and a weather system that is moving northward from North Carolina, has not let this band of smoke/aerosols move southward very much and has therefore been quasi-stationary across the region for most of the day. Canada: An expansive area of light to dense smoke is covering a large portion of Canada this evening. The smoke is due to the extremely large wildfires in Alaska and central and eastern Canada that continue to produce copious amounts of smoke. The thickest smoke stretches across northern Manitoba, Ontario, into central Quebec and is moving mainly east-southeast atop a surface high pressure system. A very large wildfire that has spread quickly to the south and east across extreme eastern Quebec has led to a very large area of heavy, dense smoke across southeastern Quebec and Labrador. Alaska: Several wildfires can be seen burning through western Alaska this evening. This is producing some light to moderate smoke across the region. -Belge THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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