DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 26, 2014
SMOKE: Western/Central Canada: The situation throughout much of Northwest Territories and northern Saskatchewan remains very similar to most of the summer – large wildfire complexes surrounding Great Slave Lake and along the Mackenzie river, as well as another area of wildfires in northern Saskatchewan located due west of Reindeer Lake continue to emit copious amounts of moderately dense to dense smoke. The smoke is visible over NW Territories, Nunavut, northern Hudson Bay, far northern Quebec, northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, eastern British Columbia, currently extending into the northern reaches of Idaho and Montana, as well as western Washington and northwestern Oregon. The thickest smoke is seen in northern Canada, with an east-west orientation through NW Territories/Nunavut/Hudson Bay, as well as an area further south in eastern British Columbia and Alberta. Eastern Canada/Eastern U.S: An area of very light remnant smoke most likely associated with the Canadian wildfires is moving southeastward over southeastern Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, into the Northeastern U.S. and northern parts of the Mid-Atlantic, as far as southern New Jersey. Western U.S: Light to moderately dense smoke is visible drifting over southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, northern Nevada, and through much of California, southward over Sacramento Valley and over the Bay Area into the Pacific. This smoke is associated to multiple named wildfires occurring in northern California, as well as a few smaller wildfires in western Oregon. DUST: Central U.S: Saharan dust is visible extending northward through the central Gulf of Mexico, into the U.S. over the Texas coastline. The dust is extending north over much of the lower and central portions of the Mississippi Valley and into the Upper Great Lakes region, as far as southern Michigan. Another area of Saharan dust is visible over the U.S. slightly to the west, over northern Texas, Oklahoma, and into Kansas. 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