DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 6, 2016
SMOKE: Northwestern to South Central Canada: A swath 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 western Nunavut, the western portions of the Northwest Territories and then southeastward across northern/central Alberta and central Saskatchewan. Moderate density remnant smoke was imbedded within this large area of smoke spanning from Victoria Island to central Alberta. In general the entire area of smoke has shifted further west over northwestern Canada with the southern portions of this area of smoke moving south/east while the northern portions were traveling north and east. This morning fires were continuing to emit smoke in central Alberta with light to moderate density smoke plumes traveling west. The northern periphery of this area of smoke was difficult to determine due to limited viewing angle/lower resolution of the northern latitudes by GOES-13/GOES-15. North-Central Canada/Northeastern Canada A light density west-east oriented band of remnant smoke was drifting south towards northern Quebec and stretched west across the Northwestern Passages to northern Nunavut. This area of smoke originated from fires in western Canada which rotated around a strong ridge positioned over northeast Nunavut. DUST: Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico/Puerto Rice/Florida/Southeast US Coast: An expansive area of optically thick Saharan dust continues to be seen pushing westward across the Caribbean Sea from the Leeward Islands west across Puerto Rico to Cuba. Additionally lesser amounts of Saharan dust can be seen over most of the Gulf of Mexico, Bay of Campeche/Yucatan Peninsula, Florida, western 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 dust 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 and ending around central Kansas. 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. -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