DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 9, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Yukon: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen in central Alaska moving east into Yukon ahead of abundant cloud cover over most of Alaska and Yukon. This area of remnant smoke originated from wildfires in central Alaska the last few days. Canada/Pacific Northwest/Northern Plains/Great Lakes/New England: Light to moderate density smoke plumes from wildfires in northern Alberta, southeast Yukon and the southwestern portions of the Northwest Territories were combining to form an area of light to moderate smoke that was moving southeastward into northern Alberta behind clouds associated with a storm system centered southeast of Great Slave Lake. A moderate band of remnant smoke that was produced from these wildfires yesterday extends from southwestern Washington to the west-central border of Saskatchewan. Wildfires in southern British Columbia continue to emit light to moderate smoke although this area of smoke has stayed relatively stationary over Vancouver Island, Washington and the southern portions of British Columbia. A diffuse area of light density remnant smoke from Canadian wildfires was seen over northern Montana, southern Saskatchewan, the Dakotas, northern Minnesota, southern Manitoba, southern Ontario, northern New England and into Nova Scotia. Moderate to heavy density smoke was being emitted to the east into northern Manitoba by a myriad of wildfires over north-central Saskatchewan before clouds moved overhead and obscured the view of this smoke. An area of heavy density remnant smoke that was released from these wildfires yesterday was seen slowly moving to the east across central Manitoba. A large storm system centered over Hudson Bay has wrapped moderate to heavy density smoke that was also produced from wildfires in Saskatchewan. This area of smoke was detected in central Quebec then ran north and counterclockwise around the low pressure system all the way to northeastern Manitoba and northern Ontario. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Southern U.S/Atlantic Ocean: An area of Saharan dust is once again seen in GOES satellite imagery over the southwest Gulf of Mexico and portions of the western Caribbean. Dust is not discernible over the Southern Plains, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, but aerosol models do show that the dust extends as far north as Missouri, Illinois and Indiana then east into the Mid-Atlantic states and all of the 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