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