Wednesday, June 24, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1710Z June 24, 2015

SMOKE
Alaska/Western to Central Canada/Northern U.S:
An enormous amount of wildfires observed through much of central Alaska
as well as wildfires occurring in western Yukon have been producing
large amounts of smoke that is currently seen as far as extreme northern
U.S. The smoke is seen across much of central Alaska where it is most
dense, then travels eastward towards western Canada and through northern
Alberta/Saskatchewan and as far as Manitoba and far southwestern portions
of Hudson Bay. It then is seen southward through south-central Canada
and appears over the U.S. in northern Minnesota moving to the southeast
towards Lake Superior. The smoke is generally light-moderate in density
except for the aforementioned area closest to the wildfires as well as
another embedded pocket of heavy density smoke focused over Saskatchewan.

Southwestern U.S.
Pockets of light smoke are observed moving northward over southern
California into far southern Nevada as well as an area of smoke in Arizona
extending into southern Utah. These areas of smoke are associated with
multiple wildfires occurring in California and Arizona.

DUST
Southeastern U.S:
An expansive area of Saharan dust remains over much of the southeastern
U.S, extending inland as far as eastern Texas/Oklahoma/eastern
Kansas/Missouri, and its northern extent seen along the eastern seaboard
through the South Carolina/Virginia coasts.

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

 


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.