DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 6, 2016
SMOKE: Northwestern Canada: Numerous fires continued to burn over northwestern Canada especially across northern Saskatchewan and northern Alberta as well as portions of the Northwest Territories. The large mass of moderately dense to thick smoke which extended from northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan northward to extreme northern Canada and over the Arctic continues to push slowly to the west. Alaska: Only a relatively small patch of thin to moderately dense smoke was visible in satellite imagery around a pair of fire complexes over west central Alaska due to interference from cloudiness. Central US: A remnant area of thin density smoke continued to be seen from southeastern Kansas and southern Missouri to southeastern Nebraska and southern Iowa. This leftover smoke may be from the Hot Pot brush fire in west-central Elko county Nevada which had been burning in recent days. JS Earlier This Morning... SMOKE: Northwestern to South Central Canada: An extensive area of light density remnant smoke from fires in the Northwest Territories, northern Saskatchewan, northern Alberta, and northern Manitoba extends from the Canadian Arctic southward across Nunavut/Northwest Territories and then southeastward across northern parts of Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba. Moderately dense to dense smoke is especially prevalent over northwest Alberta, north Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories directly north and northwest of the bulk of the fire activity. Additional moderately dense to dense smoke stretches further north across northwest Nunavut and Victoria Island. In general the entire area of smoke has shifted further west over northwestern Canada during the last 24 hours. Southeast Canada: A few patches of thin aerosol believed to be remnant smoke are seen over southeast Quebec, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and over/off the coast of Newfoundland. This smoke is from the wildfires burning in western Canada. Alaska: Areas of thin to moderately dense remnant smoke are present over northwest Alaska and across the Beaufort Sea. Most of this smoke is from wildfires burning in Siberia. Nebraska/South Dakota/Kansas/Missouri: An area of light to moderate density remnant smoke could still be identified this morning over east Kansas/western Missouri that is likely from the Hot Pot brush fire in west-central Elko county Nevada. Some additional thin smoke may exist over southern South Dakota/Nebraska/northwest Kansas though scattered cloud cover and mixture of the smoke with other aerosols such as dust made proper identification difficult. New Mexico: A small patch of thin remnant smoke is present over eastern New Mexico. This may be from a fire further west in the state. DUST: Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico/Bahamas/Florida/Southeast US Coast: An expansive area of optically thick Saharan dust continues to be seen pushing westward across almost the entire Caribbean Sea from the Leeward Islands west to the Bay of Campeche/Yucatan Peninsula. Additionally lesser amounts of Saharan dust can be seen over most of the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas, and along/off the coast of the Southeast US. A negligible amount of smoke observed yesterday from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche may have drifted northwest and mixed with the elevated over the northwest Gulf of Mexico. Southern/Central/Northern Plains States: Elevated dust can be seen in morning GOES-W imagery stretching from Central Texas northward through the Central Plains states and ending over east Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and Iowa. The bulk of this elevated dust is of African origin having moved west across the Atlantic and eventually wrapping northward through the western Gulf of Mexico. Some smoke is embedded within the larger area of dust over east Kansas/west Missouri mostly from the Hot Pot Fire in Nevada over the past few days. -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