DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z August 4, 2016
SMOKE: Intermoutain West/Central Plains/Northern Plains/Great Lakes/Eastern Canada: A large area of remnant light density smoke was traveling eastward then northeastward and was seen in-between cloud cover from the northern portions of the Intermountain West east through the Central Plains and Northern Plains into the Great Lakes Region and through eastern Canada. The majority of this smoke originated from wildfires in the western US but it is possible that smoke originating from fires in Russia might be mixed in over eastern Canada as well. Sulfates are also likely mixed in these areas of remnant smoke over the Great Lakes Region into eastern Canada. California: A light density smoke plume originating from the Sobranes fire was seen emanating to the southeast in southern California. Stationary moderate to heavy density smoke was seen closer to the Sobranes fires. A small area of light density residual smoke was seen in northern California. Western Canada: An area of light density remnant smoke with an embedded area of medium to heavy density remnant smoke was seen spanning from the southern portions of the Northwestern Territories northeast into Nunavut and southeast into northeast Alberta, central Saskatchewan and central Manitoba. The remnant light density smoke is likely a mix between fires in Russia and wildfires in Canada while the medium to heavy density remnant smoke is from wildfires southeast of Great Bear Lake in the Northwestern Territories. 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 central portions of the Gulf of Mexico and being sheared northeastward off the coast of the southeast 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