DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 10, 2015
Canada/Pacific Northwest/Northern Plains/Great Lakes: A vast area of light density smoke that originated from Canadian wildfires was observed over southern British Columbia, Washington, southern Alberta, northern Montana, southern Saskatchewan, the Dakotas, southern Manitoba, southern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Ontario, eastern portions of Hudson Bay and western Ontario. Embedded within this area of light density smoke was an impressive band of elevated moderate to heavy density remnant smoke from northern Washington that spanned east through the upper peninsula of Michigan, eastern Ontario then northeast into western Quebec and Hudson Bay. The western portion of this band of smoke is shifting north over the Pacific Northwest and budging south in the Northern Plains before moving east over the Great Lakes. Wildfires continue to produce smoke in southern British Columbia although the smoke emitted by these wildfires was staying relatively stationary. The wildfires in central Saskatchewan are producing many moderate to heavy density smoke plumes that have merged and moved eastward in central Manitoba. Newfoundland/North Atlantic Ocean: An of area of light to moderate density remnant smoke was seen exiting eastern Canada into the North Atlantic Ocean this evening in GOES-13 satellite imagery. Cloud cover in eastern Quebec was obscuring the opportunity to observe smoke that could bridge the gap between this area of smoke and the smoke seen over western Quebec and eastern Hudson Bay. This area of remnant smoke originated from wildfires in central Canada. Alaska: Due to extensive cloud cover across the region only a narrow band of smoke could be identified in satellite imagery this morning extending from northwest to east-central Alaska. Several wildfires concentrated in the central part of the state are contributing to the smoke aloft. DUST: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean: An area of Saharan dust was seen in satellite imagery over most of the Gulf of Mexico not obscured by clouds and portions of the western Caribbean. Some of this dust appears to have spread north and east over the Atlantic Ocean along the southeast coast of the US. -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