DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1541Z August 5, 2013
Northern Rockies/West Coast: Three separate areas of remnant smoke were observed this morning across the western US. The eastern-most area was a thin density area of smoke over portions of eastern Wyoming and western North Dakota. It is believed that this area of smoke originated from Packer Creek wildfire located in western Wyoming. The second and largest area of smoke was seen stretched across western Montana, northern Idaho, southeastern Washington, much of Oregon and northern California. Moderately dense smoke was seen confined to the state of Oregon within this area of smoke. Several wildfires burning across Oregon are likely the cause of this smoke. The third area of smoke was seen farther south along the West Coast over east-central California. Thin smoke is seen in the vicinity of the Aspen wildfire, which is also believed to be where the smoke originated from. North-Central Canada: A large area of light to heavy dense smoke continues to cover a significant portion of north-central Canada this morning. Area of light smoke extends across northwest Manitoba, northern Saskatchewan/Alberta, eastern two-thirds of the Northwest Territories and much of western Nunavut provinces. Moderate to heavy smoke is seen oriented north-south over central Northwest Territories and southwestern Nunavut. Numerous wildfires continue to burn producing significant smoke plumes across this region. Eastern Canada: A small, elongated thin density smoke plume was seen between breaks in dense cloud cover over eastern Ontario/western Quebec. More smoke is likely present over this area, but is being obscured from detection by satellite imagery from cloudy conditions. Smoke likely originated from north-central Canadian wildfires. South Central and Southeast US: A large amount of haziness/unknown aerosol was seen across much of the South Central and Southeastern US this morning. The aerosol plume extended from eastern Texas/southern Oklahoma southeast across the northern Gulf of Mexico, then east across northern/central Florida to the Atlantic Ocean. The plume is situated along the southern side of a west to east oriented stationary weather boundary that exists across the southern US. Caribbean Sea/Bahamas/Southern Florida/Southern Gulf of Mexico: An expansive area of Saharan dust covers the entire Caribbean and stretches from the Leeward Islands westward to the Bay of Campeche and the northern edge has now reached 25 degree N latitude in the Gulf of Mexico. Warren 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