Thursday, August 27, 2015

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

 


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.