DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0030Z January 24, 2014
Blowing dust/sand: An uncharacteristic strong upper low is rolling along the SE periphery of a strong block/ridge over the Pacific NW of the US and SW Canada...this has lead to a very large area of strong sfc winds kicking up dust/sand and salt across deserts and salt flats across much of California, S Oregon and W Nevada. For more specific details, read below: Nevada: A area of dense dust/sand is being funneled SW through the Black Rock Desert of SW Humboldt/NW Pershing county into central Washoe county and the Smoke Creek Desert before expanding/widening as it turns more due W into N California as far W as the Trinity Mtns covering nearly all of Lassen and Shasta counties (particularly dense in Lassen, likely getting additional aerosols from loose soils there). Thin puffs of dust and sand could be seen from the Toulon Dry Lake bed in SW Pershing county, NV SW of Lovelock. This has merged with thin to moderately dense sand/dust/ kicked up in the Humboldt Lake and N Carson Sink in NW Churchill county. Unfortunately high level clouds from the upper low have moved in obscuring further detection of this area. S Oregon/Ext. NE California: Narrow thin streamers are moving SW from Big Reservoir in Southern Lake county, OR, the southern dry portions of Goose Lake and the Upper and Lower Alkali Lakes of NE Modoc county, CA. These plumes are about 5km wide but extend about 20-25km to around Canby and Likely, CA. Central California: A large area of thin loose soils/dust from the central valley from Yolo/Sacramento/El Dorado county in the north through to the Madera county... This area is moving west and covers all of the Bay Area to near Santa Cruz and out to sea up to 150km before become to faint to see. The density is clearly highest across the central valley and in funneled lower valleys exposed to the east such as the Sacramento River Valley into the North Bay. South Central California: An outflow boundary from potentially dry convection across the Southern Sierras can be seen moving from SE to the NE across the Southern San Joaquin Valley with the dense edge of dust/sand exteding from just W of the Monterey/Kings county line acorss W Fresno county to the SW corner of Madera county. Much of the area of the South Valley is obscured by clouds...but before they developed dust/sand origins could be see as far south as S Kern County on the northern flanks of the Sierra Madre and Tehachepi Mtn ranges. Gallina 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