DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z June 20, 2015
SMOKE Alaska/Yukon: A very large number of wildfires burning across much of the southern half of Alaska and into southern Yukon are producing a broad area of smoke across most of southern Alaska and the adjoining Bering Sea and also southern Yukon Territory. Embedded within this broad area of light density smoke are numerous patches of moderately dense and dense smoke near the larger and more active fires – particularly over southwest Alaska and from southeast Alaska into southwest Yukon, although the full extent of the smoke could not be discerned due to extensive cloud cover over the region this evening. Central Canada: A broad area of light to moderately dense remnant smoke from fires in north central Canada from south of Great Slave Lake into northern Saskatchewan and Alberta. The smoke generally covered much of northern and central Saskatchewan and Alberta into central Manitoba and western Ontario, although the full extent of the smoke was not discernible due to extensive cloud cover this evening. The thickest smoke appeared to be associated with large fire complexes south of Great Slave Lake and in central Saskatchewan. Central and Southwest US/Northwest Mexico: Several large fires were continuing to produce areas of moderately dense and dense smoke this afternoon/evening in the region. These fires were over southern and central California, Arizona and New Mexico. Light smoke covered much of the Southwest from southern California across central and southern Arizona and western New Mexico and also spilling over into northern Baja and adjoining portions of the Pacific. Remnant smoke from these fires had moved into the central Plains from Kansas and southern Nebraska into southern Iowa and northern Missouri. DUST Gulf of Mexico/South-central US: A large area of Saharan dust continues to stream west across the Caribbean and into the western half of the Gulf of Mexico before being pulled northward into the upper east Texas coast and Louisiana. The dust is light to moderately dense with some patches of dense dust in the southwest Gulf. Ruminski 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