DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z July 19, 2016
SMOKE: Labrador/Quebec: Several light to moderate density smoke plumes were seen traveling north along the Quebec/Labrador border north of Michikamau Lake and northeastern Labrador near the coast. West and Central Canada/Northern Plains/Great Lakes: An expansive area of light density remnant smoke could be seen spanning from northern British Columbia east across most of central Canada including most of Hudson bay and as far east as northwestern Quebec and into the Northern Plains and the Great Lakes region. Within this area of light density smoke was a large swath of moderate density remnant smoke which could be seen from northern Alberta and the southern portions of the Northwestern Territories east to western Ontario as well as another swath that spanned from central Saskatchewan southeast into western Michigan. This area of remnant smoke primarily originated from wildfires in the Northwest Territories but wildfires in central Alaska from several days ago also contributed to this remnant smoke as well. Embedded within this remnant smoke were multiple moderate to heavy density smoke plumes in northern Saskatchewan, and northern Alberta which were seen traveling east. Alaska: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen in the Gulf of Alaska moving to the southeast from south-central Alaska where it originated from wildfires. Wildfires continue to burn producing light to heavy density smoke which was traveling to the southeast in south-central Alaska. Wyoming: An impressive light to heavy density smoke plume was seen emitting from a wildfire named Cliff in the northwest corner of Sublette county Wyoming. This plume was expanding to the east-northeast into north-central Wyoming to about the Wyoming and Montana border. DUST: Caribbean Sea/Puerto Rico: An area of Saharan dust could be seen in-between cloud cover moving west over the central/western Caribbean Sea. Another area of Saharan dust was seen to the northeast traveling over Puerto Rico and moving more west-northwest towards the Bahamas. Central and Southern Plains/Midwest: An area of Saharan dust was seen spanning from eastern New Mexico across the Southern/Central Plains into the Midwest and was primarily traveling to the north. Nevada: An area of blowing sand was seen coming off the Carson Sink in west-central Nevada and was traveling east. -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