DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 7, 2015
SMOKE: Central and Northern Alaska: An area of light to heavy density remnant smoke was observed over central and northern Alaska this afternoon/evening. This area of smoke was moving to the north/northwest into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and originated from Alaskan wildfires which are primarily located in central Alaska on either side of the Yukon river. These Alaskan wildfires are producing moderate to heavy smoke plumes which are merging and following the remnant smoke to the northwest. A light density band of remnant smoke can be seen spanning from the Alaskan wildfires to the wildfires in northern British Columbia. Canada A tremendous amount of smoke continues to be produced from Canadian wildfires with the majority of wildfires seen in northern Saskatchewan while the other wildfires were more scattered in northern British Columbia, southeast Yukon, northern Alberta and southern portions of the Northwest Territories. Light to moderate density smoke plumes were seen in northern British Columbia moving east behind an area of light to moderate density remnant smoke moving to the southeast into Alberta. From there and moving east, light density smoke was seen until central Saskatchewan where an optically thick area of smoke was also moving east. Cloud cover moving in from the north obscured the extent of this smoke in northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. Ahead of this heavy density area of smoke that was produced today was a more diffuse area of smoke over Manitoba and the western portions of Hudson Bay. It is likely that this area of smoke extends further east where a veil of smoke is currently seen east of Baffin Island spanning southeast to Labrador, south over Nova Scotia and eventually off into the Atlantic Ocean towards the east . Although clouds from a large storm system centered on the northwestern shore of Quebec mask the view of Ontario, most of Quebec and the eastern portions Hudson Bay. Central to Eastern US: Large areas of light to moderate density remnant smoke from Canadian wildfires were observed over central and eastern US this evening. Light density remnant smoke was seen over the Northern Plains with an embedded moderate band of smoke stretching from southern Saskatchewan through the northeast corner of Montana to eastern South Dakota. Another moderate band of smoke was seen extending from south-central Nebraska to western Wisconsin behind a southwest/northeast oriented line of convection that developed from a synoptic surface boundary. Ahead of the clouds produced from this convection in the Central Plains, light density smoke with embedded bands of moderate density smoke could be seen over the Gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, into the Ohio and Tennessee Valley, and the northeast US before exiting off the New England and mid Atlantic coasts. Pacific Northwest: Wildfires burning in British Columbia yesterday and today continue to produce dense smoke that has stretched southward along the British Columbia coastline and into the Pacific Northwest US including north Washington, north Idaho, and northwest Montana where additional fires are also generating smoke. In particular, two very large fires in southwest British Columbia produced very dense plumes of smoke yesterday that continue to drift both southwest and east while the fires emit new smoke as well. Some smoke from the fires to the north has drifted down into northeast Oregon. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Southern U.S/Atlantic Ocean: An expansive area of Saharan dust continues to be seen over much of the Caribbean and extending into the western and central Gulf of Mexico. The dust spreads to the coastline along southeastern Texas and inland through central/north Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri before disappearing beneath clouds. The exact extent and boundary of dust is difficult to determine due to the presence of these clouds, the diffuse nature of the dust in the region, and the smoke moving in from Canadian wildfires from the northwest. The dust is also seen over southern Florida and across the Bahamas into the Atlantic wrapping northeastward off the Eastern Seaboard. Far North Alaska/Beaufort Sea: An area of aerosol that appears to be dust from Asia is seen in visible satellite imagery drifting east across the North Slope of Alaska and over the Arctic waters where ice cover still exists. This aerosol is just north of the dense smoke from the Alaska fires. -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