DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z July 3, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Canada/Central to Eastern U.S: An enormous amount of wildfires occurring across central portions of Alaska as well as western/central Canada continues to create a prolific amount of generally moderately dense to heavy density smoke. This smoke is seen traveling across central and eastern Alaska across the Yukon and Northwest Territories before turning southeastward. The smoke is seen across much of central Canada, over Hudson Bay and into portions of western Quebec. The large area of smoke extends into the U.S. from eastern Montana to the Great Lakes region. Smoke is seen into the central parts of the U.S. as far south as Nebraska and eastward over the Midwest and into western Pennsylvania. Moderate to heavy density smoke also remains just offshore of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the U.S. extending over portions of Nova Scotia. Pacific Northwest: Mostly light density smoke is visible over portions of Oregon, eastern Washington, Idaho, and into Montana as well as southern British Columbia. Smaller areas of moderately dense to heavy density smoke is seen closest to the wildfires occurring across the region, especially the Harper and Corner Creek complexes. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern U.S/Atlantic Ocean: An expansive area of Saharan dust is seen over much of the Gulf of Mexico, spreading inland over Texas and Louisiana before becoming difficult to discern across Mississippi/Alabama from cloud cover. An extended stripe of Saharan dust is also seen off the eastern shore of Florida and extending to the northeast along the eastern seaboard and is seen as far north as offshore of the Mid-Atlantic region before also becoming difficult to discern due to cloud coverage. Greenland: A plume of light density smoke is visible moving SE off the coast of Greenland into the Atlantic Ocean. This smoke is remnant from the wildfires burning in Alaska and Canada. 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