Wednesday, August 3, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 4, 2016

SMOKE:
Pacific Northwest/Intermoutain West/Central Plains/Northern Plains/Great
Lakes:
An expansive area of remnant light density smoke was traveling eastward
and spanned from the northern portions of the Intermountain West east
through the Central Plains and Northern Plains into the Great Lakes
Region. The majority of this smoke originated from wildfires in the
western US. Several light to heavy density smoke plumes were seen in the
Pacific Northwest expanding to the south/southeast.  Multiple light to
heavy density smoke plumes were seen throughout the northern portions
of the Intermountain West moving east/northeast.

California/Nevada:
A light to heavy density smoke plume was seen emanating to the southeast
from a wildfire named Sobranes in Monterey county California. Light
density remnant smoke originating from the Sobranes fire was seen in
southern California into southwestern Nevada.  A small area of moderate
density remnant smoke was seen banked along the western slopes of southern
portions of the Sierra Nevadas.

Pacific Northwest/Western Canada:
A great deal of light density remnant smoke from fires in Russia could
be seen moving generally eastward across the Pacific Northwest, 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 wildfires southeast of Great Bear Lake in the Northwestern
Territories. Multiple light to heavy density smoke plumes traveling to the
southwest were coming from these wildfires southeast of Great Bear Lake.

Central and Eastern Canada:
An area of light density remnant smoke was seen across southern Manitoba
into Ontario and western Quebec 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/Gulf of Mexico:
Saharan dust can be seen moving westward across the Caribbean/tropical
Atlantic spreading across the Bahamas, Florida, the eastern portions of
the Gulf of Mexico 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. Sulfates are also likely in this mix of aerosols over
the Great Lakes Region.

-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

 


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.