DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 22, 2016
SMOKE: Western US/Northern Plains: An expansive area of light density remnant smoke primarily from wildfires in southern California was seen off the coast of California (although stratus clouds off the coast of California made it difficult to infer the extent of the smoke) and throughout California into the US Southwest in-between cloud cover. Multiple light to heavy density smoke plumes could be seen in south-central California along the coast and in the southern Sierra Nevadas. These smoke plumes were fanning to the north. Another large area of smoke was seen over the Pacific Northwest and was moving eastwards into the Northern Plains. This area of smoke originated from the wildfires in California and the wildfires throughout the Pacific Northwest. Numerous light to heavy density smoke plumes were seen throughout the Pacific Northwest moving eastward. North Pacific Ocean/Gulf of Alaska: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen moving southeast from the Gulf of Alaska into the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of the British Columbia and Washington. This residual smoke likely originated from fires in Russia. DUST: Arizona: A thunderstorm southeast of Phoenix created an outflow boundary which propagated to the northwest. Blowing dust/sand was observed along this outflow boundary. -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