DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 15, 2015
SMOKE: North Central United/States and South Central Canada extending west southwest towards the Pacific NW: A large area of low to moderate density smoke extends from portions of south-central Canada just north of the Great Lakes through Ontario, southeastern Quebec, southern portion of Hudson Bay extending west through the north-central United States and southern portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta towards a large number of wildfires over the Pacific Northwest states of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and northern Nevada. Another section of low to moderate density smoke is seen through the Plains, as far down as northern Texas stretching eastward through the middle and upper Mississippi Valley, upper Great Lakes and western portions of Ohio Valley. The heavy density smoke is seen in northwest California heading southwest into the Pacific Ocean, eastern Oregon heading eastward into Idaho. The fires in central Idaho are also producing heavy density smoke traveling eastward to Montana while the fires in northern Washington are going north into British Columbia, the southern smoke plumes are heading eastward. DUST: East Coast A large area of blowing dust was observed over portions of northern East Coast heading eastward into the Atlantic Ocean and south along the cost as far down as North Carolina. According to the models seen online, there can be a mixture of sulfate and smoke within these areas of blowing dust. Kemal 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