DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z August 15, 2016
SMOKE: California/Southern Oregon/Northwestern Nevada: Wildfires in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties of west central California and in Lake County of northwestern California were responsible for a large area of thin density smoke which extended from coastal portions of south central California northward over central and northern California, northwestern Nevada, and southern Oregon. Moderately dense to thick smoke continued to be emitted by these fires and this thicker smoke was located closer to the the fires. Eastern Oregon to the Central High Plains: The wildfires in eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho continued to be detected during the day though cloudiness interfered with smoke detection near these fires. However, through breaks in the clouds, a large region of primarily thin density smoke attributed mainly to these fires with some contribution from other fires in northwestern and west central Wyoming and northwestern and north central Colorado was visible extending from eastern Oregon across southern Idaho and southwestern Montana and much of Wyoming to northern Colorado and the High Plains of western Nebraska. Canada: A long stripe of leftover thin density smoke from recent wildfire activity in northwestern Canada was seen stretching from a portion of Nunavut eastward over Hudson Bay. Farther to the west, active wildfires in far northern British Columbia and just over the border in southern Yukon and the southwest part of the Northwest Territories were responsible for an area of varying density some which moved eastward during the day reaching the south central part of the Northwest Territories and northwestern Alberta. JS Earlier This Morning... Wisconsin: A small patch of light smoke was observed this morning over central Wisconsin moving slowly to the east. The source of the smoke is unknown. Ruminski 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