Wednesday, June 24, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 25, 2015

SMOKE
Alaska/Yukon/British Columbia:
A copious amount of wildfires continue to be observed throughout most
of central and southwestern Alaska with less wildfires currently seen
in western Yukon. Several moderate to heavy density smoke plumes were
seen in southwestern Alaska and were moving to the southeast.  An area
of moderate to dense remnant smoke from wildfires in central Alaska was
seen across much of central Alaska into central Yukon and was moving to
the east/southeast into the British Columbia and Northwest Territories.
This area of remnant smoke has combined with an area of smoke that was
produced from wildfires over the Northwest Territories.

Central Canada/Northern Plains:
An area of light to moderate density smoke was seen moving southeast
from the Northwest Territories, Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, southwestern portion of Hudson Bay, western Ontario, and
northern Minnesota.  An embedded band of moderate to heavy density
remnant smoke was seen over central Saskatchewan and central Manitoba.
Wildfires southeast of Great Slave Lake, Northern Alberta, and northern
Saskatchewan continue to produce moderate to dense smoke plumes that
have contributed to these areas of smoke.

Southwestern U.S.
An area of light density remnant smoke was seen over the US southwest;
although clouds that have developed from convection over the four corner
states obscures the full extent of this area of light density smoke.
Multiple wildfires continue to produce smoke in California, Arizona and
Baja. A wildfire in San Bernardino county, called Lake Fire, produced a
moderate to heavy density smoke plume that has traveled to the northeast
as far as Clark county Nevada. A wildfire in Baja has produced a heavy
density smoke plume that has extended into southern California.

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/North Carolina coasts.

-Cronin

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.