DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z October 13, 2016
SMOKE: Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley: Once again, numerous seasonal agricultural fires were analyzed across southeastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas, and northwestern Mississippi as well as south central Louisiana resulting in a number of localized thin density smoke plumes. Cloudiness spread over a portion of this area during the afternoon which limited some smoke detection from satellite imagery. Western US: Many fires were detected scattered across central and northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and western Montana with quite a few visible smoke plumes. The most concentrated fires were located across western Oregon, western Washington, and northern Idaho. Cloudiness from the leading edge of a storm system began spreading inland over northern California and the western part of Oregon and Washington which greatly limited smoke analysis from satellite imagery in these areas. Southwestern Canada: More seasonal burning was noted especially over central and southern British Columbia in southwestern Canada with a number of mainly thin density smoke plumes visible. JS Earlier This Morning... UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Southeast Canada: An aerosol is seen stretching from near Michigan and Lake Huron northeastward across southern Quebec. This aerosol is thought to be sulfates though other aerosol may be mixed in. Gulf of Alaska: Unknown aerosol can be seen over parts of the Gulf of Alaska just to the west of a band of thick cloud cover associated with a frontal boundary along the coast of British Columbia. This aerosol is thought to be a mix of remnant smoke, either from Asia or from numerous fires in the Pacific Northwest, along with sulfates and other aerosols. Given embedded cloud cover though it is not certain which parts are composed of which aerosol. 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