DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z August 27, 2015
SMOKE Pacific Northwest/Central US/Southern Canada: Large wildfires in the Pacific Northwest continue to produce moderately dense to very dense smoke that is primarily observed in northwest California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, north Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois as well as throughout the southern Canadian Provinces that border the northwest and north central US States. Moderate density smoke is also observed over southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas. Thin smoke from these fires extends northeastward to southern Hudson Bay and southward through the entire central US to southern Texas. Central California/West Central Nevada: Thin to moderately dense smoke is observed from wildfires burning in the central Sierras of California. An area of remnant thin smoke from these fires had moved northward across western portions of Nevada. Gulf of Mexico: Remnant light density smoke that originated from the Pacific Northwest wildfires is visible this morning over the northern Gulf of Mexico stretching from the southern Texas coast northeast across far southeast Louisiana and near the Florida Panhandle. Far Eastern Canada/Northeast US: Several patches of light density smoke could be seen east of New England, over extreme southern Nova Scotia, and to the east of Nova Scotia. In addition, a mass of thin to moderately dense smoke was progressing northeast and east across Newfoundland and southeast Labrador out over the far North Atlantic. All of this smoke is thought to have originated from the wildfires burning in the western US and extreme southwestern Canada. DUST: Alaska/Northwest Canada: Patches of aerosol that are seen over the southern Alaska coast and the far northern Gulf of Alaska is believed to be Asian dust that has traveled east across the Bering Sea. Other aerosol seen over northwestern Canada is also thought to be mostly dust from Asia and is seen over far northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and the southern Northwest Territories near Great Slave Lake. 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