DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 15, 2013
Central US: Remnant thin smoke from wildfires several days ago in Canada has dropped south and become embedded in a large cyclonic circulation that covers much of the nations mid section. The exact extent of the smoke was uncertain due to cloud cover associated with the cyclone and the lack of sharp boundaries to the smoke. It generally extended from Wisconsin southwestward across southern Minnesota, Iowa and eastern Nebraska into eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. Additional aerosol was evident over the southern Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley but this is likely mostly haze pollution, with the possibility of some very light smoke mixed in. Eastern Canada: A new pulse of moderate to dense smoke from the active fires across eastern Quebec and Labrador is adding to smoke from previous days across the region. The smoke is mainly drifting to the east and southeast across the Island of Newfoundland, the Gulf of St Lawrence, Labrador and into the Labrador Sea into the open northern Atlantic. Hudson Bay/Northern Manitoba/northern Ontario: Smoke from the active fires across northern Manitoba and Ontario was moving east across these provinces and covering much of Hudson Bay. Alaska and Yukon: Numerous active fires were burning across Alaska and the southern half of Yukon. The smoke associated with these fires was mainly light to moderate over Alaska and moving to the east while the smoke over the Yukon was moderate to dense and drifting to the southeast. Blowing Dust: A small area of dust was generated from a thunderstorm outflow over the northern Baja peninsula this evening. The dust spread to the northeast and crossed the border into southern California in the vicinity of the Salton Sea. Ruminski 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