DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z August 5, 2016
SMOKE: Western US/Central Plains/Northern Plains/Great Lakes/Western and Eastern Canada: An expansive area of remnant light density smoke was traveling eastward then northeastward and was seen in-between cloud cover from the western US east through the Central Plains and Northern Plains into the Great Lakes Region and through eastern Canada into the North Atlantic Ocean. Sulfates are likely mixed in areas of remnant smoke over the Great Lakes Region into eastern Canada. Residual light density smoke originating from fires in Asia, which covers most of the western US coast, the Pacific Northwest into the Northern Plains, has mixed with smoke that has been produced from fires throughout the Pacific Northwest, and Intermountain West. This evening multiple light to heavy density smoke plumes were seen in the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West and were primarily traveling east. Northwestern and Central Canada/Northern Plains: A large area of light density remnant smoke with embedded areas of medium to heavy density remnant smoke were seen spanning from the southern portions of the Northwestern Territories northeast into Nunavut and southeast into northeast British Columbia, Alberta, central Saskatchewan, central Manitoba and mixes with the aforementioned remnant smoke from the fires in the western US in the Northern Plains. The remnant light density smoke is likely a mix between smoke produced from fires in Russia and smoke produced from wildfires in Canada while the medium to heavy density remnant smoke is from wildfires southeast of Great Bear Lake in the Northwestern Territories. Several light to medium density smoke plumes were seen in the Northwest Territories and northeastern Alberta. 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. -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