DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 9, 2015
SMOKE Western US/Southwestern Canada: A large area of smoke from the numerous wildfires burning in northwest California and southwest Oregon was being carried to the northeast, covering the southeast half of Oregon and all but southeast Idaho. The smoke also was over northern Nevada and the northern half of California. Within this broad area of smoke were large areas of moderate to dense smoke. This was mainly seen over northwestern California – particularly in the valleys around the fires - the southern portions of Oregon and southwest Idaho as well as northwest Nevada. The Wolverine fire in the northern Cascades of Washington was producing a light density smoke plume that lifted to the north into southern British Columbia. Nevada/Arizona/Utah: Remnant smoke from the Willow wildfire near the Arizona/California border (near Needles California) was seen drifting to the northeast this morning and extended from southeast Nevada and extreme northwest Arizona across southern Utah and into western Colorado. There were still patches of moderate to dense smoke over southern Utah. Northwestern and Northern Canada: A mass of smoke was seen over much of Yukon territory and extending over the Arctic ocean. Some of this smoke was moderate to dense, especially over northern Yukon into northwest Northwest Territories and off the coast. This smoke was generally moving to the east. Another area of mostly light to moderately dense smoke was associated with the fires around Great Slave Lake. This smoke fanned out to the northeast and to the southeast. There were patches of light remnant smoke detected over portions of central Alberta. This smoke is likely from the wildfires in northern Washington and Idaho. Northeast Canada: An area of light density remnant smoke likely originating from the fires over northwestern Canada and Alaska was seen over northern and central Newfoundland and Labrador extending into the North Atlantic to the southern tip of Greenland. 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