DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1445Z June 30, 2014
SMOKE: New Mexico/Central High Plains: A new large fire complex in northern NM in S Rio Arriba county, produced a large convectively dense burst of smoke last night and can be seen moving NE this morning exiting far NE NM, covering the western counties of OK panhandle, far SE CO and the SW corner of KS... this area is still moderately dense. Tendrils of this same smoke output from very high altitude can be seen moving S across the far S portion of the Cap Rock of TX, and far SE NM, this is thin in nature with sporadic moderate patches. The San Juan and Oak fires also continue to produce thin to moderately dense smoke much nearer the sources but extending into NM. The Oak fire has a thin N-S oriented line (centered on the fire) that is about 15-20km wide (E-W) nearing the NM line. The San Juan fire has two arms extending NE and ESE... the NE arm is about 20km wide and extends to near the fire in Rio Arriba county and is higher in altitude, the ESE extends the NW corner of Sierra county NM covering much of Catron county, this plume is lower in altitude and has a bit more density due to output overnight being less vigorous. Newfoundland/Atlantic Ocean: Smoke from the Boreal Quebec fire a few days ago with contributions from the far SW Labrador/Quebec boarder fire continues to accelerate east in the jet along/north of 52N across the Atlantic. The cyclone to the SE of Newfoundland continues to shear the smoke along the periphery in a narrowing/concentrated bands across central Newfoundland (moderate to dense) with a broader area of thin to moderately dense smoke exiting Nova Scotia covering much of the area between 55-65W south of Newfoundland but north of 35N... though likely to be turning eastward to undercut the base of the cyclone. West Canada: Very dense smoke from the numerous wildfire complexes across NW Territories continues to drop south covering much of source areas as well as N Alberta, far NW Saskatchewan. Some thin smoke can be seen drifting east over Nunavut and N Hudson Bay but this continues to thin out and dissipate. An arm of moderately dense smoke extends from main dense pocket back toward the WNW covering extreme NE corner of BC, SW NW Territories, and SE Yukon Territories. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Central US Gulf Coast: A well defined moderately dense Saharan Air Layer can be seen across the Western Gulf of Mexico, west of 95W and entering TX and SW LA under strong southerly winds and covers nearly all of SE TX east of 100W to 31N, much of LA and NE TX before turning east under SW and W flow to cover S AR, much of MS and S AL into the far western FL panhandle. Some lighter SAL can also be seen across Yucatan along 21N to the Cuban coast. AEROSOLS: Central Plains Hazy conditions due to high mst values and mixed pollutants can bese seen in Goes-West across E KS, MO, with highest concentrations along sfc/low level boundary covering NEB, very near the severe convective complex across NE NEB. Northern Plains: A moderately dense area of unknown aerosols/hazy conditions can be seen over NE ND, NW MN along the clearing at the base of the large polar cyclone over S Manitoba/W Ontario. It is highly likely that similar moderately dense haze/pollutants are obscured in the cloudy area across S Manitoba/W Ontario. 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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