DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 31, 2014
Canada/Northern to Eastern and Northeastern US: The numerous large ongoing wildfires clustered mainly around Great Slave Lake in northwestern Canada are still emitting huge quantities of smoke which moved primarily to the north and northeast during the day. The smoke attributed mainly to these fires covered much of central and eastern Canada and extended to the south and southeast into the north central US, the Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic region and Northeast. The thickest smoke was located near the fires and across the area stretching from north central Canada southward to the north central US. Northwestern-North Central US/Southwestern Canada: Smoke of varying density which was believed to be associated more with fires in Washington moved to the northeast and east during the day and extended into the southern portions of British Columbia and Alberta. The leading edge of this smoke also spread across portions of northern and eastern Montana and into the western part of the Dakotas. California: Fires in east central California were likely producing significant smoke during the day, but cloudiness in the region prevented additional information concerning the density and overall extent of the smoke. Alaska: Mainly thin density smoke originating from fires in Siberia moved southward from the Arctic Ocean and across northern and western Alaska. Caribbean to the Western Gulf of Mexico/Far Southern Texas: Aerosol which is likely connected to Saharan dust aloft moved to the west during the day and covered much of the area from the Caribbean Sea to the western Gulf of Mexico and inland over Mexico and extreme southern Texas. JS 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