DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 27, 2014
SMOKE: Canada/U.S: Wildfires continue to burn across Northwest Territories surrounding Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, as well as British Columbia, producing light to heavy density smoke that is visible over much of central Canada, extending into north-central portions of the U.S. as well as a separate area of remnant smoke over northeastern parts of New England and eastern Canada. Light density smoke is seen over NW Territories, drifting southward over eastern British Columbia, Nunavut, Hudson Bay, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Ontario, moving into the U.S. over eastern Montana, North Dakota, and northern Minnesota. Moderate to heavy density smoke remains over northern Canada, extending over NW Territories, Nunavut, Hudson Bay, and northern Ontario. An extent of the moderate to heavy density smoke stretches southward from the wildfires through northeastern Alberta and Saskatchewan. A patch of remnant light to heavy density smoke from these wildfires in Canada is visible over New England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, eastern Quebec, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Central U.S: A ribbon of light density smoke currently extends across the central U.S, over the central Plains and central Mississippi Valley, extending as far as Michigan/Ohio/West Virginia. This area of smoke originates from wildfires occurring through Nevada and Utah. Southeastern U.S: A patch of light density remnant smoke is seen moving southeastward over southern North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. This area of smoke most likely is detached from the larger area of smoke from the central U.S. Northwestern U.S: An area of light density smoke is visible over Washington, Oregon, southern British Columbia, and northern Montana. This smoke is most likely a combination of long transport smoke from wildfires occurring in Siberia, as well as smoke descending southward from the Canadian wildfires. DUST: Southern Plains: An elongated area of near stationary dust is persisting over northern Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. This dust is most likely Saharan in origin. Heeps 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