DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z September 8, 2015
SMOKE: Pacific Northwest/California: An area of light density smoke was seen in between cloud cover and moving eastward in Washington and southern British Columbia. This smoke was being emitted by wildfires in Washington although there was only a weak signal seen in infrared associated with these wildfires. The 'Rough' fire complex in the Sierra Nevadas of central California was producing light to heavy density smoke that has been spanning eastward from central California through central Nevada into central Utah. Earlier in the day smoke appeared to be mostly traveling north-south along the topography due to a temperature inversion in the lower levels of the atmosphere that limited the vertical extent of this smoke but daytime heating and an increase in intensity of the wildfires eventually helped heavy density smoke to traverse the Sierra Nevada mountains towards the east. Lower Mississippi River Valley: Multiple agricultural and prescribed burns were observed in the southern portions of the Mississippi River Valley. Clouds obscured the full extent of the stationary light density smoke that was associated with these fires. -Cronin 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