DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 8, 2015
Aerosols: Gulf of Mexico Region: Saharan dust remains over much of the Gulf of Mexico region. The highest concentration is over the western third of the Gulf with a stripe of moderate that runs across the center of the GOM and into south central Florida. Southern California: An area of blowing dust was seen in the late afternoon/evening originating from the Colorado desert and spreading eastward across the the southern Salton Sea and reaching to the Arizona border by sunset. Liddick Smoke from earlier has not evolved much, so the same from earlier holds true this evening... SMOKE Alaska: Light smoke covered much of the eastern two thirds of Alaska, roughly east of a line from the North Slope near Deadhorse to Ambler to McGrath to the Cook Inlet and extending into the northern Gulf of Alaska. The smoke was just barely reaching the Canadian border. Moderate to dense smoke was mostly confined to the interior between the Brooks and Alaska ranges, roughly from Huslia and Galena to Fairbanks. Northern Canada: Smoke from fires around Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes were generating an expansive plume of smoke that was mainly extending to the northeast and then east of the fires. It covered much of the central Northwest Territories and northern Nunavut to the Arctic coast. There were extensive areas of moderate to dense smoke embedded within a larger area of light smoke. Pacific Northwest: Wildfires in northern California, Oregon and Washington continue to rage and produce areas of smoke across the region. The most expansive area of smoke extended from off the coast of northern California northeastward across northern California and southern Oregon into southwest Idaho. The most dense smoke was seen over northwest California with moderately dense smoke extending east northeast across southern Oregon. Light to moderately dense smoke was associated with a fire on the eastern slopes of the northern Cascades and was swirling around much of central Oregon. Locally dense smoke was seen in the valleys near the fire. Another patch of smoke was seen associated with a fire in the Olympic peninsula with the plume extending to the southwest. Ruminski 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