DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z August 20, 2015
SMOKE: Western and Central US/Southwest and South Central Canada: Large areas of smoke ranging from light to heavy density are visible over a majority of the western US as well as far southwest and south central Canada . The heaviest smoke is visible over northeast Washington, north Idaho, west Montana, southeast British Columbia, and southwest Alberta this morning. Moderate density smoke is observed farther east and southeast across much of Montana, Wyoming, south Idaho, north Utah, northwest and northeast Colorado, western Nebraska, and northwest Kansas. Most of this smoke comes from the extreme amount of wildfires burning in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and northwest Montana. Some elevated dust may have mixed with the smoke. Additional moderately dense smoke exists over southeast Oregon, northwest Nevada, and northern California as large wildfires in northwest California continue to produce significant smoke. Light to moderate smoke from fires in the California's Sierra Nevada range is seen over east central California, west and southern Nevada, and western Arizona. Light density smoke from all of these fires extends to the central US and as far south/east as Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. Midwest: A ribbon of smoke is seen dipping down from along the Manitoba/Ontario border covering much of Minnesota, eastern Iowa, southwest Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and northwest Indiana. This smoke is obscured along the western/southwestern edge of the upper low over the western Great Lakes but is thought to be of Asian origin, possibly from fires burning in Siberia. Southeast Canada/Northeast US: Areas of residual light smoke are seen over the Gulf of St. Lawrence and across parts of Newfoundland. This smoke likely originates from the wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. Additional aerosol seen off the coast of the Northeast US and over far eastern Massachusetts could still be residual smoke but there is also a possibility that the aerosol is now mostly composed of sulfates. Sheffler 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