Monday, August 29, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 30, 2016

SMOKE:
Far Northern California/Oregon/Washington/Southwestern Canada:
A wildfire in far north central California was responsible for a large
swath of moderately dense to thick smoke which spread to the north
impacting the western part of Oregon, central and eastern Washington,
and into southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta in Canada.

Area from Idaho to the Great Lakes Region:
Numerous wildfires in eastern Oregon, Idaho, western and southwestern
Montana, and northwestern Wyoming were primarily the source of a very
large mass of thin density smoke which covered much of the Northwestern
and North Central US from Idaho to the western Great Lakes region. The
thin density smoke also spread to the south and southwest over much of
Wyoming, northwestern Colorado, and eastern Utah. Moderately dense to
thick smoke was visible closer to the actual fires this afternoon and
moving to the northeast. It should be noted though that cloudiness over
portions of the Northwestern and North Central US did interfere with
additional information on the extent and density of the smoke.

California:
The ongoing wildfires along the coastal portions of south central
California were emitting locally dense smoke in the vicinity of the
fires. A much larger surrounding area of thin density smoke fanned out
both offshore to the southwest and farther inland to the northeast into
central California.

DUST:
Alaska:
A streak of aerosol which may be airborne glacial flour was visible
moving to the southwest and offshore from a source in the far northern
panhandle region of southeastern Alaska.

JS



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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.