DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z October 31, 2015
SMOKE Gulf of Alaska/British Columbia: Aerosol seen in evening visible imagery moving across the eastern Gulf of Alaska towards the central and northern British Columbia coast is believed to be remnant smoke from Asia that has moved across the north Pacific. The exact source is unknown though. DUST Central/Eastern Washington: Several plumes of blowing dust could be seen over the Columbia Valley of central Washington spreading eastward towards the Idaho border. The first in a series of strong storm systems was moving across the Pacific Northwest this evening causing strong winds east of the Cascade Range that was causing the blowing dust event. The plumes could be seen from about 1915z until just before sunset around 2330z. Southern California/Southwest Arizona/Northwest Mexico: A large blowing dust/sand event is underway this evening originating from the deserts of far southern California, far southwest Arizona, and extreme northwestern Mexico. Gusty winds this evening behind an upper low over the southwest US have led to the blowing dust which can be seen spreading southward across northern Baja California, northwestern Sonora, and the Gulf of California from prior to 18z until after 00z. 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