DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z July 21, 2015
SMOKE: Central Canada/North-Central U.S: An expansive area of generally light density smoke remains over much of central Canada. Smoke is seen back to the northwest across southern Yukon Territory and southern Northwest Territories, then extending south-southeastward across northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and western Ontario. The smoke is also seen filtering into the U.S. over eastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota. Central to Eastern Canada: Light to moderate density smoke is seen drifting westward across northern Quebec and over Hudson Bay due to a low pressure system moving over southern portions of Hudson Bay. The moderate density smoke is generally focused over Hudson Bay, but light density smoke is seen extending towards Greenland. Central Plains: A small area of separated light density remnant smoke is seen moving southward over far southern Nebraska and mostly over Kansas. Northwestern U.S/Southern British Columbia: An outbreak of wildfires have been seen across much of the Northwestern U.S, many of which have been producing at least light to moderate density smoke up until sunset. These fires and related smoke plumes are seen across central Idaho, northern Oregon, southern Washington, and southern British Columbia. The heaviest density smoke plumes are seen in western Oregon, southeastern Washington, and southern British Columbia. DUST: South-central to Southeastern U.S: Areas of Saharan dust are visible across much of the southern and southeastern U.S, generally remaining from Texas and extending eastward towards Alabama/Georgia before becoming difficult to discern due to cloud coverage/convection occurring across much of the southeastern states. From Earlier... SMOKE: Alaska: An area of light-density 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, and as far east as Yakutat, AK. The full smoke extent cannot be determined due to cloud cover in the general area. DUST: 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: East Coast: An area of unknown aerosols are visible off the Mid-Atlantic coast this morning moving eastward extending from North Carolina to New Jersey. 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. Heeps/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