Friday, July 3, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 4, 2015

SMOKE:
Alaska/Canada/Central to Eastern U.S:
The epic number of large wildfires continue to burn over vast stretches
of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta with additional fires in southern
Northwest Territories, northeast British Columbia and northwest
Manitoba. These fires are producing an enormous amount of smoke that
cover most of central Canada from Hudson Bay to the Rockies with the
smoke dipping down into the central US, the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes
States and into the Northeast and Mid Atlantic before moving off the
coast. Much of this vast region is covered in moderately dense to dense
smoke. Clouds cover much of Alaska this evening and this is precluding
detailed detection of the fires and smoke. But the smoke generally
extends from southwest Alaska northeastward through the interior north
of the Alaska Range and into the Yukon Territory.

Pacific Northwest:
Several fires burning in Washington and Oregon area producing patches of
smoke that together encompass mush of the Washington. Oregon and into
Idaho and western Montana. The smoke is moderately dense to dense near
the fires. Additional fires over southwest British Columbia were also
producing smoke plumes that were mostly moving to the east into southern
British Columbia.

DUST:
Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern U.S/Atlantic Ocean:
Similar to earlier today, an expansive area of Saharan dust is seen
over much of the Caribbean and extending into the Gulf of Mexico. The
dust also spreads inland over southeast Texas and south Louisiana before
becoming difficult to discern across Mississippi/Alabama from cloud cover
with the dust also extending along and across the Florida Panhandle,
North Florida, and up the coast of Georgia, South Carolina, and North
Carolina. A lengthy stripe of Saharan dust is also seen off the eastern
shore of Florida and extending to the northeast off the eastern seaboard
east of the Outer Banks before become indiscernible due to cloud cover.

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.