Saturday, August 1, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z August 2, 2015

SMOKE:
Eastern US:
An area of  haze is seen from the coast of New Jersey to Long Island
and Cape Code; which is mostly sulfate with some mixture of smoke.

Northwest US/Northern Plains:
Multiple areas of light to heavy density smoke are visible throughout
northwestern US moving northeastward through Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Montana and as far north as southern British Columbia, Alberta
and Saskatchewan and as far east as western Minnesota. The moderate
to heavy smoke is seen in northern California moving north through
southwestern Oregon.  Another area of moderate to heavy density smoke
is seen in northern Washington moving eastward through northern Idaho
and western and northern Montana.

Gulf of Mexico:
Fires in southwestern Louisiana are producing small light density plumes
heading southwest into the Gulf.

DUST:
Southern Gulf of Mexico:
Light area of dust is seen from southwest Florida to as far as the Bay
of Campeche. This area of dust is mixed with plumes of smoke from the
oil rigs in the far southwest Gulf.

Kemal/Ruminski


From Earlier:
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 SE into Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. 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.

Western/Central US:
Multiple areas of light to heavy density smoke is visible throughout the
western and central US this morning. Heavy density smoke is visible moving
north from northern California and Oregon, as well as moving eastward
from Washington. Medium-density smoke is visible in California, Oregon,
Washington, Montana, Saskatchewan, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota,
and Iowa. Light density remnant smoke could be seen throughout most
of the Pacific Northwest into the Northern and Central Plains which is
seen moving eastward to the Atlantic coast. This smoke originates from
the numerous wildfires that are burning in northern/central California,
SW Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

Eastern US:
A large stream of medium to light density smoke is visible moving east
through the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic and north up the East Coast
into New England as far north as Maine. This smoke originates from the
wildfires burning in the western US.

DUST
Western Gulf Coast/Southern US:
A large area of Saharan dust was observed over Texas, Oklahoma, 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. Its also possible that these areas of smoke may be mixed with
plumes of aerosols.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.