DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0500Z August 16, 2016
SMOKE: Central Plains: An area of very light density remnant smoke from wildfires burning across the western US was seen over portions of the central Plains from NE and central KS into southeast SD, northwest IA and southwest MN. Wyoming: Several wildfires burning in northwest WY were generating light to moderately dense smoke that extended east southeastward into central WY, although the full extent of the smoke was not able to be determined due to extensive cloud cover across the region. An area of light residual smoke is seen across portions of southwestern/south central Montana, northwest Wyoming and a small section of far eastern Idaho bordering Wyoming and Montana. California/Nevada/Oregon/Washington/Idaho: Numerous wildfires in CA, OR and ID along with agricultural/prescribed burns in ID, OR and WA were contributing to a large area of smoke across the region. Smoke covered much of CA, the southeast half of OR, portions of NV, eastern WA and much of ID. The most dense smoke was associated with wildfires along the central CA coast, eastern OR and southern ID. Northern Canada: Wildfires in southwest Northwest Territories, southeast Yukon and northern British Columbia were the source of remnant and new areas of smoke. The new smoke plumes were extending to the east of the fires while the remnant smoke extended from western Nunavut southward across eastern Great Slave Lake to Lake Athabasca and into central Saskatchewan. The most dense smoke was over and near Great Slave Lake. Bering Sea: An area of remnant smoke from Siberian wildfires was seen dropping south over the western portions of the Bering Sea. 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