DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z August 3, 2016
SMOKE: Intermoutain West/Northern Plains/Great Lakes: An expansive area of remnant light density smoke with embedded areas of medium smoke were traveling eastward and spanned from the northern portions of the Intermountain West east through the Northern Plains into the Great Lakes Region. The majority of this smoke originated from wildfires in the western US. The embedded areas of remnant medium density smoke were located in eastern Montana and Manitoba into North Dakota and another smaller area in central South Dakota. The remnant medium density smoke in Montana originated from a wildfire named Pioneer in Boise county Idaho. A medium density smoke plume was seen moving to the east-northeast from the Roaring Lion wildfire along the Washington/Idaho border. Western Canada: A great deal of light density remnant smoke from fires in Russia could be seen moving generally eastward across British Columbia, the southeastern portions of Yukon into the Northwestern Territories and Northwest Nunavut. Another area of light density remnant smoke with an embedded area of medium density smoke was seen spanning from the southern portions of the Northwestern Territories northeast into Nunavut. The remnant light density smoke is likely a mix between fires in Russia and wildfires in Canada while the medium density smoke is from a wildfire southeast of Great Bear Lake in the Northwestern Territories. Central and Eastern Canada: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen across southern Manitoba into Ontario moving eastward south of a low pressure system positioned in west central portions of Hudson Bay. Clouds associated with this system obscure the full extent of this smoke. Most of this smoke is thought to be from Russia though wildfires in northwest Canada may have also contributed to this area as well. DUST: Caribbean/Western Atlantic/Southeast US: Saharan dust can be seen moving westward across the Caribbean/tropical Atlantic spreading across the Bahamas, Florida and being sheared northeastward off the coast of the southeast US. Southern Plains/Mississippi River Valley/Great Lakes: A large diffuse area of Saharan dust could be seen from the Southern Plains northeast across the Mississippi River Valley into the Great Lakes Region mixing in with the aforementioned remnant smoke from fires in the western US. -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