Saturday, August 31, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 31, 2013

Smoke:

US
An elongated area of thin density remnant smoke stretches from central CA
northeast across Nevada, SE Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas,
Minnesota, and the western Great Lakes region before curving south over
the Midwest states stretching as far south as the lower Mississippi River
Valley and eastern Texas. The smoke originated from several wildfires in
the western US including the Rim wildfire in central CA, the American
wildfire in CA, and the Little Queens and Kelley Fire in the Sawtooth
Mountains of ID. Embedded patches of moderate to very dense smoke are
seen in central California, northern Nevada, and southern Idaho along
with another patch near the southern Montana – northern Wyoming border.

It is possible that the remnant smoke observed in Texas and the lower
Mississippi Valley is mixed with surface pollutants, as indicated by
aerosol models.

Ramirez

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.