DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 31, 2016
SMOKE: Far Western US/Southwestern Canada: Moderately dense to locally thick smoke from a new fire well east of Los Angeles spread to the west and over portions of the Los Angeles metro area late in the day. Farther to the north, fires near the coast of south central California were still producing moderate to dense smoke which fanned out to the southwest and offshore and inland toward the central Sierras. Over far northern California, a large wildfire was emitting a large very dense smoke plume which moved mainly to the north into southwestern Oregon. Thin to moderately dense smoke from this fire also extended northward over portions of central and northern Oregon and Washington and into southern and southeastern British Columbia and Alberta in Canada. Also, a large mass of mainly thin density smoke attributed mainly to the fires near the coast of south central California stretched to the east and northeast over a good portion of central and southern California, much of Nevada, and into Idaho. Area from Idaho to the North Central US/South Central Canada: Numerous wildfires over Idaho, western and southwestern Montana, and northwestern Wyoming were responsible for a large area of moderately dense to thick smoke which covered the region from central Montana to the Dakotas. Locally dense smoke was also briefly visible in between breaks in the clouds closer to the actual fires though cloudiness did significantly interfere with smoke information in those locations. In addition, a stripe of moderately dense smoke from these fires fanned out to the south reaching into north central Colorado. Farther to the north, thin to moderately dense smoke from the large fire in far northern California rounded the top of an upper level ridge and began moving to the southeast from Alberta across southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba and over the US border into northern Minnesota. JS Earlier This Morning... 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