DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z July 14, 2016
SMOKE: Central Plains: Several small areas of light density remnant smoke were analyzed over the Central Plains. One area spanned from western Oklahoma northeast into Missouri while another area could be seen to the north from along the western Nebraska/Kansas border east-northeast into southwest Iowa. Clouds obscured the eastern extent of these two areas of smoke generated from yesterday's prescribed/agricultural burns in the Central Plains. The final area of light density smoke was seen over the panhandle of Oklahoma moving east and originated from a wildfire named Fuller in north-central Arizona. Intermountain West/Southwest: Multiple light to heavy density smoke plumes could be seen emanating from fires primarily located in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. The majority of these smoke plumes were traveling east although a fire in the Lincoln National Forest produced a smoke plume which was traveling south. Alaska/Northwest Canada: A light to heavy density smoke plume was seen southeast of Great Bear Lake moving southeast while two light to moderate density smoke plumes were seen traveling south just east of Great Slave Lake. Multiple smoke plumes were seen from fires in central Alaska although the smoke was relatively stationary. Two east-west oriented areas of light to moderate density remnant smoke were seen in Alaska into the Northwest Territories while multiple patches of light to moderate density smoke were seen in the Northwest Territories. A small area of light density smoke originating from fires in central Alaska was seen in northern Alaska. Another area of remnant smoke originating from fires in central Alaska could be seen from central Alaska into the western portions of the Northwest Territories. It is likely that the eastern portions of this area of smoke is a combination of smoke from Alaskan fires and fires seen in the western portions of the Northwest Territories. Yesterday's fires near Great Bear lake produced patches of light to moderate density smoke which have slowly drifted to the southeast. DUST: Western Caribbean Sea into the Western Gulf of Mexico: A broad area of optically thick Saharan dust continues to be seen this evening moving westward across the western half of the Caribbean Sea into the western/southern half of the Gulf of Mexico, including the entire Bay of Campeche. Central Plains/Great Lakes Region: An elongated area of light density Saharan dust could be seen extending from western Texas east-northeast into the Great Lakes region. Clouds obscured the observation of aerosols over the Midwest. -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