Thursday, June 29, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 30, 2017

SMOKE:
Southwestern US/South Central US/Northern and Northwestern Mexico...
Numerous wildfires burning in the Southwestern US were responsible
for a very large mass of thin density smoke which covered much of the
Southwestern and South Central US from Utah and Arizona eastward to
Missouri and Arkansas. Within this area, swaths of moderately dense smoke
extended from the Brian Fire in southwestern Utah eastward to western
Kansas and western Oklahoma with thicker smoke located near and just
east of the fire. Farther to the south, the wildfire in Socorro County of
west central New Mexico emitted a plume of moderately dense smoke which
extended eastward into western Texas with dense smoke located near and
east of the fire. Additional wildfires in Arizona also were producing
moderately dense to thick smoke moving to the east and northeast.

Area from Northwestern Canada to the Northwestern and West Central US...
A very large area of thin density smoke attributed to a number of fires in
Northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska has been transported southeastward
across a portion of western and southwestern Canada and southward into
the US over western Montana, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon, much
of Idaho, northern Nevada, northern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming. From
there the smoke spread southeastward and eastward over northern Colorado
where it eventually merged with the smoke from the Southwestern US fires.

Southern Oregon/Northwestern Nevada...
A stripe of thin density smoke believed to be from nearby fires in Oregon
and northern California was visible extending from southwestern Oregon
to northwestern Nevada.

Eastern Alaska/Northwestern Canada...
A rather large patch of thin density smoke covered northeastern Alaska
and the northern part of the Yukon in northwestern Canada with embedded
smaller plumes of moderately dense to thick smoke located near the fires
close to the Alaska-Yukon border.

DUST:
Caribbean/Yucatan/Southern and Central Gulf of Mexico...
An area of Saharan dust was visible across a portion of the Caribbean,
the Yucatan Peninsula, and over the southern and central Gulf of Mexico.

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.