DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 11, 2015
SMOKE Central Canada through Great Lakes: A broad area of mostly light to heavy-density smoke is visible through Alberta,Saskatchewan, and NW Territories, between Lake Athabasca and Slave Lake, moving SE into the US. The heaviest smoke is visible moving through NW Territories through Alberta. Light smoke is visible throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Ontario, and into the Great Lakes region (notably Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.) Great Lakes through New England: The area of heavy to light remnant smoke from earlier this morning is fairly unchanged- the large heavy plume extending from the Mid-Atlantic through New England east into the Atlantic Ocean continues in the same direction with little shift. This plume in some areas appears to have stalled out, and still visible in the same area as this morning. Medium-density smoke is visible through North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. The lightest density smoke is detected through the from Tennessee through the Mid-Atlantic, and the entirety of New England into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Eastern Canada: A large plume of medium-density smoke was visible extending from Nunavut down into northern Quebec at sunset. There were also a few patches of high level light remnant smoke visible earlier from the wildfires in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia were detected over Hudson Bay and northern Quebec. One longer ribbon of light smoke stretched from far northern Labrador and Newfoundland eastward across the Labrador Sea to the southern tip of Greenland. Mississippi River Valley: Due to numerous agricultural burns occurring in Arkansas, Oklahoma,Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama, several small patches of light-density smoke are visible throughout this area at sunset. Texas: A plume of light-density smoke is visible moving west extending from central Texas across the border into Mexico. This smoke most likely originates from the agricultural burning taking place in the Southern Plains as well as Mississippi River Valley. Western Gulf of Mexico: A large area of medium-density smoke is visible from the Bay of Campeche northwest the coast of Mexico towards the US border. This smoke originates from the prescribed agricultural burning as well as oil exploration in the bay. DUST: Pacific NW: A blast of foreign blowing dust is visible from Asia making landfall through northern California, Oregon, and Washington moving east into Idaho. There are also a few fires currently burning in Oregon as well as northern California, which could contribute to the aerosols visible in this region. Oegerle 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