Sunday, July 31, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0500Z August 1, 2016

SMOKE:
Western US to the Central Plains and Southwest Canada:
Several large wildfires in the western US continued to produce moderately
dense to dense smoke this afternoon and evening. The largest wildfires
were located in central California, northwest Nevada, central Idaho, and
southern Washington. Remnant smoke from these and other fires cover much
of the western US and still extends into the central Plains as well as
southern Alberta/southern Saskatchewan. Moderate density remnant smoke
was observed over portions of southern and western Montana, northern
Wyoming, northwest Utah, and central California. There is also thin to
moderately dense smoke observed over the Pacific Northwest/Vancouver
Island that is likely from Asian wildfires.

Northern and Central Canada:
A broad area of light smoke was seen across northern and central Canada
from fires over northern Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and
from Russia over the past few days.  The smoke extended from southeast
Alaska/Yukon Territory/northern British Columbia eastward across northern
Canada to northern Hudson Bay. Moderately dense to dense smoke was seen
drifting east across far northwestern Canada with this smoke likely
being from Siberia.

Alaska:
Remnant smoke from fires in Russia could be seen moving eastward across
northwest Alaska, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska. A significant
amount of cloud obscured the smoke near and south of the Aleutians. Most
of the smoke was thin in density though some moderately dense smoke was
present near the Bering Strait.

DUST:
Caribbean/Western Atlantic/Southeast US/Gulf of Mexico:
Saharan dust can be seen moving westward across the Caribbean/tropical
Atlantic  spreading across the Bahamas, Florida, and the Southeast coast
of the US. In addition a good deal of dust could be seen across the Gulf
of Mexico and Bay of Campeche.

Oregon:
Dust from several dry lakebeds in the southern part of the state could
be seen moving southward this evening between 0130-0300Z.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.