Sunday, July 6, 2014

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z July 7, 2014

SMOKE:
New England/Eastern Canada:
A plume of remnant thin smoke that originated from wildfires located
across the Northwest Territories moved eastward over the Atlantic Ocean
away from New England. The smoke this evening covered southeast Quebec,
Nova Scotia, and parts of Newfoundland as it wrapped northeastward.

Northwestern to Central Canada/North Central US:
Numerous wildfires in northwest Canada have caused a large area of
moderately dense to dense smoke that covers the southern half of
the Canadian Northwest Territories and extends southward into north
Alberta/northeast British Columbia as well as northwestward across the
Yukon Territory to the Alaska border. Some thin smoke also appears to
still extend eastward across southern Nunavut/Hudson Bay. A developing
cyclonic circulation over central Canada has drawn mostly thin smoke from
the northwest Canada wildfires and from additional fires over northern
Saskatchewan southward across central Canada into the north central US
states of North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

HAZE/DUST:
Gulf of Mexico and South Central/Central US to Ohio Valley:
An expansive of hazy aerosol stretches from the central and south
central US northeastward along and ahead of a frontal boundary to the
Ohio Valley where it disappears beneath thick clouds. Additional aerosol
is seen pushing west and northwest across Texas, the western/northern
Gulf of Mexico, and parts of the southeast US. Some of this aerosol,
especially over the western Gulf and Texas is thought to be dust of
Saharan Desert origin. Dust may also be the dominant aerosol stretching
from the southern/central Plains to the Ohio Valley although fires along
the Mississippi may also have contributed some smoke to the mix. Other
aerosol is either of unknown composition or considered summer haze.

Western US:
A generally hazy appearance across many of the western states
was seen from GOES satellite imagery tonight. Dust plumes could be
picked out across northern Utah, southwest Wyoming, and  south central
Oregon. Singular fires in southeast Washington, north Idaho, and central
California also added some smoke to the atmosphere.

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.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

 


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.