DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1715Z June 17, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Yukon: Areas of thin smoke are visible over a majority of the coastal areas of southern Alaska as well as farther inland over southeast Alaska/far southwestern Yukon Territory in Canada. Several large wildfires have contributed to this area of smoke including the Sockeye fire (in Willow, AK), Tanana Slough fire in eastern Alaska, Card Street fire (on the Kenai Peninsula of AK), and Can Creek fire (near Lime Village, AK) along with additional fires in southwestern Yukon. Area of remnant smoke is generally drifting to the west-southwest as it is pulled offshore by Gulf of Alaska low pressure system. South Central Canada/North Central US: A large area of thin remnant smoke is stretches across much of south central Canada from James Bay west-southwest to southern Saskatchewan with some of the smoke extending southward across the US border as well covering parts of northern Minnesota, northern North Dakota, and northeast Montana. Some moderately dense smoke was observed over southern Saskatchewan/northeast Montana as well. Thick cloud cover over central Manitoba, central Saskatchewan, and southern Alberta may be obscuring additional smoke. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires that had been burning for weeks in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Southern British Columbia: A small area of aerosol between the mountain ranges of southern British Columbia is believed to be smoke from a wildfire north of Vancouver. The smoke was moving eastward. Canadian Maritimes/Northeast US: Portions of a plume of thin remnant smoke are seen moving east/southeast between areas of cloud cover along the back edge of a low pressure system moving through the Canadian Maritimes/North Atlantic. The smoke is seen over the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Newfoundland and Anticosti Island and from the southeast coast of Nova Scotia southwestward across the North Atlantic waters to southern New England/Long Island. This remnant smoke is believe to be from fire activity in western Canada and is likely several days old. Southeast US: A moderately sized area of thin smoke is seen drifting south/southeast along and off the coast of the Southeast US, covering coastal portions of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The smoke originates from agricultural burns that have been taking place in the Southeast US and Lower Mississippi Valley regions over the last couple of days. There may also be some elevated dust mixed with the area of smoke. DUST Gulf of Mexico: A large area of Saharan dust continues to be visible this morning moving west from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico before being pulled northward across the western Gulf by Tropical Depression Bill, now over north Texas. The optically thick dust appears to extend north over coastal Texas, Louisiana, southwest Mississippi, and southern Arkansas though cloud cover likely obscures some of its extent. Midwest US: An area of aerosol that is believed to be mostly elevated dust could be seen over parts of southern Minnesota, northwest Iowa, eastern South Dakota, and northeast Nebraska this morning through a break in the clouds. The origin of this possible dust is not entirely clear based on aerosol models. Northwest US: An area of aerosol seen along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northwest California is thought to be elevated dust from Asia. Central Canada: Areas of aerosol are seen over northern Manitoba, southeast Nunavut, and central Hudson Bay as well as stretching from central Saskatchewan westward across Alberta to northeast British Columbia. Aerosol was also seen drifting south across the Northwest Territories near Great Slave Lake and northern Alberta. Most of this aerosol is thought to be elevated dust that likely has an Asian origin. Most of the dust is being pulled southward across Canada by a large weather system. Sheffler 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