DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z August 4, 2015
SMOKE Greenland: An area of medium-density smoke is visible moving SE off the coast of Greenland into the Davis Straight and Atlantic Ocean. This smoke is remnant from the wildfires that have been burning Alaska, Canada, and the US Pacific NW. Eastern US: A large wave of medium-density smoke is visible moving eastward and then NE from the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Areas affected include Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and NE up into the Atlantic Ocean. Due to the visual limitations of GOES-W, it is difficult to determine how far west this smoke originates before it reaches the east coast. This smoke originates from the wildfires that are burning in Alaska, Canada, and the US Pacific NW. Pacific Northwest/Southwest Canada: A large area of light to medium-density smoke is visible moving to the north and northeast across northern California, much of Oregon and Washington, Idaho, southern British Columbia, and Montana. From there, the smoke spread to the southeast across Montana and over the Northern and Central Plains to at least as far east as the Ohio Valley. The thickest smoke was present closer to the largest and most active wildfires over northern California, western Oregon, as well as western and northern Washington, and far southwestern Canada. The remnant smoke is moving eastward, where it converges with smoke that is coming down from NW Canada and Alaska,and continuing east towards the Atlantic Ocean. Northwestern Canada: Fires between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes in northwestern Canada were responsible for areas of medium to heavy density smoke extending from Nunavut, NW Territories, and Saskatchewan, with a lot of the smoke moving SE towards the US border. Alaska: An area of light-density smoke is visible originating from central Alaska where it is visible moving east into Yukon and the NW Territories. DUST Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean: Areas of Saharan dust is visible throughout the Caribbean westward across the Gulf of Mexico and into Texas and the greater Gulf coast. The dust is visible moving east, passing through the eastern Gulf of Mexico over Florida and NE into the Gulf of Mexico. 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