DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z July 10, 2015
Canada/Pacific Northwest/Northern/Central Plains/Northern Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes/New York/Northeast US: A vast area of light density smoke that originated from Canadian wildfires was observed over a large section of southern/central Canada and northern and parts of the central US. Light smoke extended over extreme northern Washington, southern British Columbia, southern/central Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, most of Quebec, northern Montana, the Dakotas, northern Nebraska, all of Minnesota, Iowa Michigan, Wisconsin, northwest Illinois and western New York. Embedded within this area of light density smoke was an impressive band of elevated moderate to heavy density remnant smoke stretching from central British Columbia, southeast Alberta, southwest Saskatchewan, northeast Montana, northwest to southeast North Dakota, northeast South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and across northeast Iowa and southern Wisconsin. Then, the heavier smoke starts again in northern New York and into the northeast US. The wildfires in Canada 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 are moving south and eastward. Northeast Canada/North Atlantic Ocean: An of area of light to moderate density remnant smoke was seen stretching across most of northern/central Quebec and exiting eastern Canada into the North Atlantic Ocean this morning/early afternoon in GOES-13 satellite imagery. The heaviest smoke extends from central Quebec and moving east over Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and northern Nova Scotia. This area of remnant smoke originated from wildfires in central Canada. Alaska: Extensive cloud cover remains across the region with an area of smoke seen in satellite imagery this morning extending across east-central Alaska and into northern/central Yukon Territory. 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 moving west in satellite imagery over the southern region of the Gulf of Mexico. The dust in the central region of the Gulf Mexico is very light. Also, some of this dust appears to have spread north and east over the Atlantic Ocean and seen in imagery off the South Carolina/North Carolina coast moving east. -Kibler 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