Friday, August 14, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 14, 2015

SMOKE:
Western/Central Canada:
A large area of smoke is visible moving SE from the wildfires continuing
to burn near the Slave Lake region as well as southern British
Columbia. Medium density smoke is visible in British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and western Quebec. A separate plume
of light density smoke is visible moving SE from the Chukchi Sea into
the NW Territories and Nunavut. This smoke is remnant from the wildfires
that have been burning in Canada the last few weeks.

Western/Central US:
A large area of light to heavy density smoke is visible this morning
traveling east from the multiple wildfire complexes located in California,
Oregon, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, and Montana. The heaviest
smoke is visible in British Columbia, Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
North Dakota, and Minnesota. Medium-density smoke is visible in this
region moving eastward into the Great Lakes and SE into the Mississippi
Valley. Light-density smoke is visible moving south into the Southern
Plains as far as Texas. Due to the visual limitations of GOES-W, it is
difficult to determine how far east the boundaries of smoke are.

Greenland:
A detached plume of remnant smoke varying from light to medium-density is
visible moving SE off the coast of southern Greenland into the Atlantic
Ocean. This smoke originates from the large amount of smoke emitting
from the wildfires in Canada and the US.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.