DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z July 20, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska: Remnant smoke from the central Alaskan wildfires is visible moving eastward in the Bay of Alaska, south of the base of the Aleutian islands east over Kodiak Island. The full smoke extent cannot be determined due to cloud cover. Canada: Several areas of light density smoke with embedded bands of moderate smoke were seen throughout northern/central Canada. Light density remnant smoke from Alaskan wildfires was observed moving east from the Alaskan border into Yukon and the NW Territories. Northern Central US: A large band of light to medium-density smoke is visible traveling E/SE across the north central US and south central Canada. Smoke is visible extending from Montana through the Great Lakes into Ontario with the heaviest smoke affecting Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires burning in Alaska, Canada, and possibly the Pacific NW. Pacific Northwest: Wildfires in Washington State, Idaho, Oregon, and southern British Columbia are collectively contributing to a remnant light density smoke plume observed throughout much of the said states. From Earlier... DUST: Central U.S: Areas of Saharan dust are visible across much of the central U.S, seen moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico into Texas and is moving east towards the Mississippi Valley. The dust is visible as far north as Oklahoma. Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico: Another surge of Saharan dust is seen moving across the Atlantic towards the U.S. Its current extent appears to remain offshore of Florida as well as into central portions of the Gulf of Mexico off of Texas and Louisiana. AEROSOLS: Mid-Atlantic: An area of unknown aerosols are visible off the Mid-Atlantic coast this morning moving eastward extending from Virginia to Massachusetts. Its a possibility that this plume is a mixture of Saharan dust that has been moving through the east coast as well as remnant smoke coming down from Canada, and general sulfates. Ramirez/Oegerle 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