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