DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1541Z August 25, 2014
Smoke: Thin smoke can be seen moving south through the central valley of CA from last night's output from the Happy Camp, Man and July Fire Complexes in N CA. The area is concentrated just north of some high clouds and north of I-80, east of I-5 and west of the high peaks of the Sierra, though covering the lower flanks. Moderately dense to dense smoke covers the valleys west of each complex and thin lower level smoke (above boundary layer) is drifting SW from the complexes eventually reaching the coastal area then turning due south offshore along the coast. Lastly, middle-level smoke is moving due east across NE CA, NW NV and SW ID but is mixed with clouds enhanced from a shortwave trof and associated jet streak so the exact eastern extent is too difficult to determine at this time. NW Canada: Northern Territories: A large swath of moderately dense to dense smoke can be seen covering nearly all of N NW Territories and continental portions of Nunavut. This high density is due to reinvigorated output from the numerous vast boreal fire complexes mainly north of Great Slave Lake (though obviously some smaller fires are contributing along the Mackenzie river and south of Great Slave Lake). This are is generally lifting due north before being pulled rapidly east under very strong westerly jet flow north of 64N. Saskatchewan: A few small complexes in the southern portion of the boreal forests of Saskatchewan produced moderately dense smoke that is being stretched north and south under the affects of the large cyclone SW and the jet described above... this most dense area appears to be centered around Lake Athabasca... though the bulk does appear to be bound on the west by the Saskatchewan/Alberta boarder; though thin less organized smoke appears to be surrounding the larger broad area that extends as far south as 51.5N (mixing with smoke from BC, see below) Alberta: Thin smoke from large fires in central BC can be seen moving over southern central Alberta mixing with southward moving smoke from Saskatchewan fires. Very dense wx cloud cover covers the source fires in BC so only the eastern extents of the thin smoke plume can be accurately determined (wx clouds clear out around the eastern slopes of the Rockies). 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