DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 21, 2015
SMOKE: Numerous large wildfires burning in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana are collectively responsible for blanketing the majority of the western United States in light density (at minimum) remnant smoke. Moderate density smoke is observed in northern California moving east into western Nevada, and also from eastern Washington State and Oregon southeast as far as the Nebraska – Iowa border. Heavy smoke is limited to northern California, northeast Washington, and much of Montana. From Earlier.... 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. BLOWING DUST: A small area of blowing dust was observed in Arizona using visible satellite imagery this evening. The dust originated on the western border of Yavapai County and Maricopa country, and moved southwest between 2200Z and sunset (0145Z). The dust reached the eastern portion of Maricopa County. Ramirez/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