Sunday, July 7, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z July 7, 2013

Alaska/Canada:
The majority of Canada and the central/eastern portions of Alaska
are covered by light to very dense smoke this morning, due to
numerous wildfires that continue to burn across the region. The
light remnant smoke extends from central Alaska eastward across all
of the Canadian provinces, across St. Pierre et Miquelon and into
the Atlantic Ocean. Embedded within the light smoke are fairly large
areas of moderately dense to dense smoke. The first area is located
over Alberta/Northwest Territories/Nunavut where the thickest smoke
remains along the western/northern side of a surface low pressure system
extending northward. The second area of moderately dense smoke is much
further east moving across St. Pierre et Miquelon into the Atlantic Ocean.

US:
An area of moderately dense smoke was visible across portions of the
Central Plains and Upper/Central Mississippi Valley regions this morning,
intermixing with clouds. This remnant smoke likely originated from the two
Nevada wildfires that continue to produce smoke today. An even larger area
of light remnant smoke was seen stretching across most of the Southern
Plains and Central US across the Great Lakes. Some of the lighter smoke
could be due to wildfires in Canada as well as wildfires/agricultural
burns in the US. There is also a possibility that the light remnant
smoke extended across the Four Corners Region of the US as the smoke
continues to wrap around the surface ridge in eastern Colorado, but due
to some clouds it was hard to detect.

-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.