Saturday, June 27, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z June 28, 2015

SMOKE:
Western US:
An area of light density smoke that encompassed southern British Columbia,
Washington, Idaho, Nevada and western Utah continues to drift to the
north-northeast.  This area of diffuse smoke originated from wildfires
in the southwest.

Alaska/Canada/Midwest:
An immense area of light to heavy density remnant smoke was seen spanning
from the Bering Sea off the western-central coast of Alaska, northeast
into Yukon, then southeastward/eastward into most of central/eastern
Canada and finally into the US Midwest. The majority of this smoke
originated from numerous wildfires in southwestern/central Alaska as well
as the southern portions of the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta,
northern Saskatchewan. Remnant smoke over Alaska has become more diffuse
today although cloud cover has partially obscured the full extent and
intensity of this remnant smoke.  Medium density remnant smoke was seen
along border of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut just east of Great
Bear lake and extended into southern Manitoba. Heavy density remnant smoke
was observed in the southeastern portions of the Northwest Territories
and northern Saskatchewan. Lighter density remnant smoke expanded into
Ontario, Quebec, Hudson Bay and over the Great Lakes region into the
Midwest behind a large low pressure system.  Several impressive dense
smoke plumes were seen in central/northern portions of Alberta and
Saskatchewan and were moving to the south-southeast.

-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.