DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY


SMOKE
Alaska to the Mid Atlantic:
An unbroken area of smoke from the prolific number of wildfires over
Alaska and central/northern Canada stretches across the width of Alaska
and into Canada. The smoke covers nearly all of Canada from Hudson
Bay to eastern British Columbia and dives south into the central US,
from northern Montana across North Dakota and into Minnesota where the
smoke curves southward across most of the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio
Valleys and into the Mid Atlantic states and southern New York. The smoke
also reaches back into eastern Oklahoma and southeast Kansas. Embedded
within this tremendous area of smoke area very large areas of moderately
dense to dense smoke, which likewise stretches across most of the length
of the smoke area from Alaska through most of central Canada down into
the mid section of the US and then eastward to the Mid Atlantic.

DUST
A broad area of Saharan dust was seen covering much of the southern half
of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Small areas of light blowing dust were detected over the desert regions
of southern California this afternoon.

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

 


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.