DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z August 5, 2015
SMOKE Pacific Northwest/Southwest and Central Canada/Northern Plains: Multiple wildfires in the Pacific Northwest continue to emit light to heavy density smoke although cloud cover in northern California as well as partial cloud cover in southern British Columbia limited detection of hotspots and smoke. A band of moderate to heavy density remnant smoke was seen stretching from off the northwestern coast of California, into Oregon, southeastern Washington, Idaho, western Montana and southern Alberta. This band of remnant smoke was likely connected to an area of light to medium density remnant smoke over the Dakotas, southern Manitoba, central Minnesota and western Wisconsin but cloud cover from convection over eastern Montana and Saskatchewan obscured this connection. Northwestern Canada: Wildfires between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes in northwestern Canada were responsible for areas of remnant medium to heavy density smoke extending from Nunavut, NW Territories, and northern Saskatchewan. These wildfires continue to produce heavy density smoke to the northwest. Alaska: An area of light density smoke is visible originating from central Alaska where it is observed moving east into Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Wildfires in central Alaska began to emit moderate density smoke plumes to the south. DUST Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean: Areas of Saharan dust is visible throughout the Caribbean westward across the Gulf of Mexico and into Texas, the Gulf coast states and the southeastern US. The dust was also visible passing from the eastern Gulf of Mexico over Florida and NE into the Atlantic Ocean and all along the eastern seaboard. -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