DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1900Z August 2, 2016
SMOKE: Western US/Northern Plains: A large area of light density smoke with embedded areas of moderately dense/dense smoke could be seen moving generally eastward through the region stretching as far as the Great Lakes region. The larger pockets of moderately dense smoke were present over the western Dakotas, Montana, northern Idaho, and central California. Most of this smoke is from western US wildfires though there is an area of thin remnant smoke moving across the Oregon/Washington coast and over the Pacific Northwest states that is believed to be Asian smoke. Eastern Alaska/Northeast Pacific/Western Canada: A great deal of light density remnant smoke from fires in Russia could be seen moving generally eastward across eastern Alaska and portions of western Canada. Some moderately dense smoke was present over Alberta and Saskatchewan diving southeastward towards southern Manitoba and the US border. Central and Eastern Canada: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen across central Canada wrapping northward across northwest Ontario/western Hudson Bay around a low pressure system positioned in northern Saskatchewan. Clouds associated with this system obscure the full extent of this smoke. Most of this smoke is thought to be from Russia thought wildfires in northwest Canada may have also contributed some. In addition, another area of thin remnant smoke exists from the northern Great Lakes northeastward across eastern Ontario/James Bay/southern Quebec. This smoke may either have Russian origin or could possibly be from western US wildfires. 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, the Gulf of Mexico, and being sheared northeastward off the coast of the southeast US. Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas/Missouri/Midwest: Dust that may be African in origin can be seen this morning across north Texas stretching north across Oklahoma, east Kansas, and west Missouri. An additional area of elevated dust extends from northern Indiana northwestward across north Illinois and Wisconsin becoming mixed with remnant smoke. 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