Monday, July 1, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z July 2, 2013

North America:
A large plume of smoke extends from eastern Alaska, southeastward through
the Northwest Territories and Northern Manitoba/Saskatchewan where it
spreads north to south.  The southern extent reaches to the Gulf of
Mexico while to the north it extends north of Hudson Bay.  There is a
northeastern portion which covers most of Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador
before extending into the Atlantic.  This smokes origin is a combination
of wild fires in Alaska, Manitoba, Quebec with some of the southern
smoke coming from wildfires in the western US.  This smoke varies from
light to dense with most of the densest areas being near the sources.
In the western US there is an area of light smoke that may have become
detached from the larger plume but is likely remnant smoke from the
sources listed above.

-Salemi

Earlier Today:
Canada/Alaska:
A very large portion of Canada is covered by light to moderately dense
remnant smoke this morning. The light smoke is visible stretching from
central Alaska southeastward across central and northern Canada, Lake
Huron, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Embedded within the light smoke are
multiple areas of moderately dense smoke across portions of Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, and Ontario. Multiple wildfires across Canada and Alaska are
likely the source of this remnant smoke. The smoke is generally moving
in a east-southeast direction while some of it is also wrapping southward
into the central US on the eastern side of the ridge of high pressure.

US:
Light to moderately dense remnant smoke could be seen across a large
portion of the US. The moderately dense smoke was located mainly through
the central US and Great Lakes region, while light smoke was detected
wrapping from the Great Lakes around the surface ridge southward into
Texas and then northward from the Four Corners region into the Pacific
Northwest. Remnant smoke will likely continue moving in this fashion
for at least the short term. The origin of the smoke is likely due to
the wildfires in the southwest as well as the smoke from the wildfires
in Canada/Alaska.

-Vogt


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

 


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.