DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z July 17, 2016
SMOKE: Alaska and Northwest/West/Central Canada: Large amounts of wildfire activity located in North-Central and Central Alaska contributed to a large area of light to moderate density remnant smoke which combined with smoke emitted from wildfires in the Northwest Territories. This area of remnant smoke spanned from central Alaska east across Yukon, the Northwest Territories into far northwestern Nunavut becoming hidden beneath clouds. An expansive ribbon of light to moderate density remnant smoke (likely originating primarily from numerous wildfires burning throughout the Northwest Territories) was also seen extending east southeast across northern British Columbia, Alberta, western/southern Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba being depressed southward towards the US border by a frontal boundary. In addition over northwest Alaska, some remnant smoke from fires in Asia appeared to be moving across the Arctic. Arizona: The Fuller fire near the Grand Canyon in north-central Arizona was producing a light moderately density smoke plume which was traveling to the east-northeast. Remnant thin to moderately dense/dense smoke from this fire stretches from northeast Arizona and southeast Utah eastward to western Kansas/southwest Nebraska. DUST: Western and Southern Gulf of Mexico/Southern and Central Plains/Lower-Mid Mississippi River Valley: Saharan dust continues to be observed moving north and through the western and southern Gulf of Mexico with the greatest density over north Texas into the Central Plains and the Lower-Mid Mississippi River Valley. North Atlantic/Canadian Maritimes: Elevated dust likely originating from Africa can be seen over the North Atlantic lifting northeastward ahead of a frontal boundary just southeast of the Canadian Maritimes. Puerto Rico/Caribbean Sea: Another wave of Saharan dust could be seen moving west over Puerto Rico , the Leeward Islands, and over the Caribbean Sea. West Texas/North Central Mexico: A small area of aerosol is seen moving west across the northern part of Mexican state of Chihuahua from western Texas. It seems possible that this is blowing dust though confidence is not high. Gulf of Alaska: A patch of dust is seen over the northern Aleutians and south central Alaska covering the northern Gulf of Alaska. This dust is likely from Asia. Sheffler/Whisnant 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