DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0430Z July 23, 2016
SMOKE: North Central US: An area of mainly thin density smoke was visible stretching from eastern Wyoming and eastern Montana across the Dakotas and Minnesota to Wisconsin, northern Iowa, and northern Illinois as well as southern Lake Michigan. Within this area, a patch of moderately dense smoke was analyzed over southeastern Montana. The source of this smoke is likely mainly attributed to fires in north central and west central Wyoming, southern Montana, and southern Idaho. Additional smoke was being emitted by these fires this evening. Southern California/Baja: A swath of thin to moderate density smoke extended from far northern Baja and extreme southwestern California to the southwest and offshore over the Pacific. This smoke was believed to be mostly from a fire in northern Baja though other fires were burning in the area. Western to South Central Canada: Areas of thin density remnant smoke were visible over central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, and west central Manitoba with a separate area from eastern Manitoba stretched east across Ontario. This smoke was believed to be mainly from recent wildfire activity in western Canada. Newfoundland/Labrador/Western Atlantic: Leftover thin density smoke attributed to recent wildfire activity in western Canada extended from eastern Labrador across Newfoundland and southward over the Atlantic. Some of this remnant smoke could be seen over Nova Scotia and just off the coast of New England. Bering Sea: A large amount of thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen in GOES-W imagery likely moving east from the Kamchatka Peninsula region of Russia across the Bering Sea. DUST: Western Atlantic/Caribbean: An aerosol which is likely to be Saharan dust was seen over the western Atlantic spreading westward across a portion of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Southeast US/Mid-Atlantic: An aerosol could be seen along the coast of the Southeast US stretching northeast over/along the coast of the Mid-Atlantic region where it merged with some of the remnant Canadian smoke mentioned previously. This aerosol is thought to be African dust. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Great Lakes Region/Ohio Valley/Mississippi Valley/Southern Plains: An aerosol composed of unknown pollutants was seen from portions of the Great Lakes Region southward over the Ohio Valley and Mississippi Valley. Some smoke and dust may be mixed in with this aerosol though that is not a certainty. 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