DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 1st, 2015
SMOKE Alaska and Western/Central Canada: An area of light to medium density smoke generated from Alaskan wildfires was visible moving east from central Alaska through Yukon, and into the Northwest Territories. A detached area of light density remnant smoke was seen stretching from Nunavut and the northern portions of the Northwest Territories into northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires continuing to burn in central Alaska. Although clouds moving southwest into northwestern/central Alaska began to cover wildfire activity in central Alaskan. Pacific Northwest/British Columbia/Northern Plains/Central Plains: Multiple wildfires were seen in northern/central California, SW Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Clouds moving into northern California began to obscure wildfires in northern California and southwestern Oregon but before clouds moved in smoke was traveling slowly to the WNW. Heavy density smoke could be seen emanating from the Stout Creek fire in SW Oregon while light to moderate density smoke plumes moving to the east were emitted by wildfires in Washington and British Columbia. Light density remnant smoke could be seen throughout most of the Pacific Northwest into the Northern and Central Plains with a moderate density band of remnant smoke spanning from Montana from Iowa. DUST Western Gulf Coast/Southern US: A large area of Saharan dust was observed over Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana into northern Mexico. A dense area of Saharan dust was seen across the Caribbean sea moving into the southern Gulf of Mexico as well as moving from the Caribbean Sea to northeast off the eastern seaboard 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