DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z August 13, 2015
SMOKE: Western and Central Canada/Northwest to Central US and south into the Mississippi Valley: Multiple impressive heavy density smoke plumes were emanating from wildfires in central/northwestern California, eastern/western Oregon, southwestern/northern Washington, southwestern Idaho along the Idaho Oregon border, and northwestern Montana. These heavy density smoke plumes contributed to an expansive area of light to heavy density remnant smoke that expanded from the Pacific Northwest into southwestern Canada through southern British Columbia and much of southern/central Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, the Northern Plains and finally into the Mississippi Valley. The smoke appeared to be more diffuse as it made its way into the Northern Plains and even more so in the Mississippi Valley. Wildfires in northern Alberta, and the Northwest Territories produced moderate to heavy density smoke plumes that were moving east which were contributing to another area of light to moderate remnant smoke that was moving east over Nunavut, northern Manitoba, northern Ontario, the southern portions of Hudson Bay and northwestern Quebec. AEROSOLS: Southern US/East Coast: An area of aerosols that was mostly composed of sulfates as well as Saharan dust was observed along the Gulf Coast States and along the Eastern Seaboard. It was difficult to determine the full extent of this aerosol due to its diffuse nature. -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