DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z August 30, 2016
SMOKE: Northwestern US/Intermountain West/North Central Plains/Great Lakes/Southwest to South Central Canada: A large amount of remnant thin smoke covers parts of the Pacific Northwest/southern British Columbia/southern Alberta stretching east and southeast covering portions of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Upper Great Lakes region. Additional thin smoke was seen in southern Idaho. Pockets of moderately dense smoke were also still seen this morning with the thickest smoke over central and eastern Montana. The majority of this smoke is from wildfires in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming though fires in other western US states have also contributed. California: The ongoing wildfires along the coastal portions of south central California were emitting locally dense smoke in the vicinity of the fires. Thin density smoke fanned out both offshore to the south and inland to the northeast into central California near Lake Tahoe. Additional moderately dense to dense smoke could be seen coming from the Gap Fire in the far northwest part of the state. DUST: Alaska: An aerosol seen in the Gulf of Alaska drifting westward towards Kodiak Island may be airborne glacial flour which was visible yesterday evening moving offshore from a source in the far northern panhandle region of southeastern Alaska. Caribbean/Tropical Atlantic: African dust stretches from the Leeward Islands west across the Caribbean Sea to Jamaica. Optically thick dust is also seen across the Atlantic waters north of Puerto Rico and Hispanola. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Mid-Atlantic Coast/Western Atlantic: An area of aerosol can be seen this morning to the north of a stationary boundary that is draped from the Virginia/North Carolina border eastward across the western Atlantic. The aerosol extends as far north as southern New Jersey and can be seen from the Chesapeake Bay Region east over the open ocean. Aerosol models indicate quite a mixture in this area with remnant smoke, light dust, and sulfates all present off the Mid-Atlantic causing the hazy conditions seen in satellite imagery. Southern and Central Plains to Midwest: Unknown aerosol covers much of northern and eastern Texas this morning as well as northwest Louisiana/western Arkansas stretching north across Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and northern Indiana where it then becomes cloud covered. Some remnant smoke from agricultural burning in the Central Plains yesterday may be present but the majority of the aerosol is thought to be sulfates and haze. Sheffler 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