DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1715Z August 21, 2013
US/South Central and Southeast Canada/Northern Mexico: An expansive area of thin to moderately dense smoke covers much of the northern US, the central and south central US, northern Mexico, and south central and southeast Canada. There may be some haze/pollution mixed in with the smoke over the northern Ohio valley. Much of this smoke is from the numerous wildfires burning in the western US recently although a dwindling number of wildfires in northern Canada have likely also contributed a little to the expanse of smoke. The most dense areas of smoke were seen along the Wyoming/Montana border into northwest South Dakota and from the northern Plains southward to Oklahoma/northwest Texas. Northwest Canada: Mostly thin smoke stretched from northern Alberta/southwest Northwest Territories eastward to southern/central Nunavut and northwest James Bay. A few small areas of moderately dense smoke were also seen embedded in the remnant thin smoke. This smoke is probably remnant smoke from the dwindling number of fires in northwest Canada/Alaska or it could be remnant smoke from fires in Siberia. Alaska: A thin area of aerosol believed to be remnant smoke from Siberia wildfires could be seen over northwest Alaska. Labrador Sea: An aerosol was seen this morning east Labrador and Newfoundland over the Labrador Sea. This aerosol may be remnant smoke from northwest Canadian/Alaskan fires or it may be smoke from Siberia. Other aerosols may also be in the mix. 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