Friday, June 19, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z June 19, 2015

SMOKE
Alaska/Yukon:
An area of light density remnant smoke was observed over parts of
southern/southeast Alaska. This area of remnant smoke has originated from
wildfires in southern Alaska and western Yukon over the past several
days. Wildfires in southeast Alaska and the western portions of the
Yukon Territory continue to produce light to moderate density smoke
this morning.

Northwest Territories/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Ontario/Hudson Bay:
A broad area of thin to moderate density remnant smoke is observed
stretching from central Ontario/southwest Hudson Bay westward across
Manitoba/central Saskatchewan/north Alberta. On the far western end of the
plume of remnant smoke, elevated dust appears to be mixing in as it moves
east across central/southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan. Fires
actively burning in northern Alberta and southeast of Great Slave Lake
in the Northwest Territories are the cause of most of this remnant smoke.

Southwest US/Northwest Mexico:
A large wildfire in southern California, called the Lake Fire, continues
to produce a significant amount of dense smoke that fans out across nearly
all of Arizona, southern Utah, western New Mexico, extreme southwest
Colorado, and northwestern Mexico.  The Lake Fire has burned over 11000
acres in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California since June
17th. Several smaller wildfires in central and eastern Arizona that have
continued to burn over the past few days have produced light to moderate
density smoke plumes that have merged into the larger mass of smoke from
the Lake Fire.

Southeast US:
Two small areas of thin remnant smoke are seen along and just off the
coast of the Southeast US. The smoke originates from agricultural burns
that have been taking place in the Southeast US states of Georgia,
South Carolina, and North Carolina yesterday. Elevated dust may also
be mixed with the area of smoke and additional elevated dust is seen
further offshore and to to the north of this area.

DUST
Gulf of Mexico/South-central US:
A large area of Saharan dust continues to stream west from the Caribbean
into the Gulf of Mexico before being pulled northward across the
western Gulf by Tropical Depression Bill now over the Missouri/Arkansas
border. The optically thick dust appears to extend north over the eastern
portions of Texas, far southeast Oklahoma, western Louisiana, northwest
Mississippi, and southern and eastern Arkansas before cloud cover begins
to obscure its northeastward extent.

Midwest/Central US:
Aerosol that is believed to be elevated dust is seen across much of
the Midwest and Central US that is not cloud covered. The dust appears
to cover parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota,
Nebraska, and Kansas. Some of this dust may have an Asian origin having
traveled across the Pacific and southeastward across western Canada. More
than likely though, much of the dust has a Saharan Desert origin,
having traveled across the Atlantic, northeastward around TD Bill,
and now being wrapped back to the west across Illinois, Iowa, Missouri,
south Wisconsin, south Minnesota.

Mid-Atlantic/Southeast US:
Elevated dust is seen moving eastward off the Mid-Atlantic coast. Much
of this dust is of Saharan origin again and has been drawn northeast
from the western Gulf of Mexico by TD Bill. Remnant dust of a unknown
source also continues to be present within the subtropical high off the
Southeast US coast.

-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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.