DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z August 16, 2013
Western US: Fires producing areas of thick smoke were visible over northern California, southwestern Oregon, southern and central Idaho, western Montana, northwestern Wyoming, and northern Utah. Western US to Central US: Areas of varying smoke density from the Western US fires described above spread to the east and southeast during the day crossing the Rockies to a good portion of the Central US. Canada/Northern and Northeastern US: Scattered large fires stretching from northern Manitoba to the Northwest Territories emitted large quantities of smoke which moved to the east and southeast. Thinner density smoke covered much of Canada and extended to the south and east across the North Central and Northeastern US. Moderately dense to thick smoke was located over north central Canada and extended southward to Minnesota and the Great Lakes region. Alaska/Northwestern Canada: Cloudiness interfered with smoke detection over Alaska and western Canada during the day. However, through breaks in the clouds, a large area of thin to moderately dense smoke was visible over much of eastern Alaska and northwestern Canada Blowing Dust: Oregon/Nevada: Streaks of mainly thin density blowing dust originating from several dry lake beds in south central Oregon and northwestern and west central Nevada was visible in satellite imagery moving to the northeast after 21Z. JS 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