DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z June 27, 2016
SMOKE: California: A broad area of thin density smoke mainly from the Erskin Fire in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of south central California was visible stretching from off the southern California coast inland over southern and central California, much of Nevada and Utah, and over southern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming. Closer to the fire, only a small patch of thicker density smoke was seen just after sunrise. Central US: An area of leftover detached light density smoke associated mostly with the Crow Peak Fire in the Black Hills of western South Dakota was analyzed from southern South Dakota and northern and eastern Nebraska over much of Iowa to northwestern Illinois. Satellite imagery early this morning also indicated a shift in the wind direction resulting in a plume of moderately dense smoke spreading to the west from the Crow Peak Fire across northeastern Wyoming. Farther to the south, a swath of leftover detached thin density smoke from the Beaver Creek fire in far northern Colorado could be seen extending from northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska to the southeast over a good portion of western Kansas. Newer smoke production from this fire appeared to be moving to the north into far south central Wyoming. Alaska and Northwestern Canada: A few patches of aerosol which is likely composed of at least some leftover detached thin density smoke were visible over portions of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. This smoke is likely due to a combination of a few fires in the Yukon as well as fire activity in west central Alaska. Closer to the Alaska fires, cloudiness prevented smoke information from satellite imagery this morning. West Central and Southwestern Canada/Northeastern Montana/Northwestern North Dakota: A number of fires in the region including the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories, northern and central Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan were primarily responsible for a large area of leftover thin density smoke stretching from the southeastern part of the Northwest Territories southward across eastern Alberta much of Saskatchewan to northeastern Montana and northwestern north Dakota. DUST: Caribbean: A region of possible Saharan dust could still be seen over the Caribbean Sea spreading to the west. JS 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