Thursday, August 1, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z August 1, 2013

Northwestern US/North Central and Central US/Great Lakes/South Central
Canada:
An expansive area of thin smoke covered much of the north central and
central US this morning stretching from Montana eastward to the Great
Lakes region and from southern Canada southward to Oklahoma/Arkansas.
Patches of thin smoke were also observed over north California, Oregon,
north Washington, and southern British Columbia. Moderately dense smoke
was observed drifting southeastward across southwest Ontario, northeast
Minnesota, Lake Superior, and the U.P. Of Michigan.  Much of this smoke
probably originated from wildfires burning in the western US states
of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. In addition,
wildfires in northwestern Canada during the past several days may have
been responsible for the lingering thin smoke moving southward across
central Canada.

Central and Eastern Canada/Northern Maine:
As mentioned above, thin remnant smoke was seen across much of central
Canada including as far north as Nunavut. Thin to moderately dense
remnant smoke was also observed over a large portion of eastern Canada,
the Labrador Sea, the Canadian Maritimes, and northern Maine. Most of
this smoke is thought to have originated from numerous wildfires that
had been burning in northwestern Canada several days ago although some
of the smoke further south could have come from western US wildfires
and smoke across the Arctic may have come from recent Alaskan wildfires.

Alaska/Northwest Canada:
Thin smoke was present a large part of Alaska extending eastward across
the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, northwest Alberta, and
northern British Columbia. Recent Alaska, Yukon Territory, and Northwest
Territory fires are responsible for this smoke.

Sheffler

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.