DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 28, 2017
SMOKE: Large area extending from southwestern to central and south central Canada and also over the area from Montana to Michigan... Wildfire activity scattered across portions of central and western Canada as well as portions of the Northwestern US was responsible for a very large mass of thin density smoke which covered much of southwestern, central, and south central Canada as well as the northern tier of the US from Montana to Michigan. A number of large wildfires were detected over the southern part of the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and northern Manitoba with numerous significant smoke plumes moving off to the northeast and east. Farther to the southwest, more wildfire activity in southern British Columbia was also producing plumes of moderately dense to thick smoke which appeared to move mainly in a northeasterly direction. Over the US, fires in western Montana and north central Idaho as well as northern and northeastern Washington were also producing moderately to locally dense smoke which moved to the northeast and contributed to the larger mass of smoke in the region. Northern California and Oregon.... Fires over northern California and southwestern Oregon were producing locally moderately dense to thick smoke which moved off to the northeast. A larger surrounding thin density region of smoke stretched from northern California across much of Oregon to far southeastern Washington and western Idaho. Alaska... A large fire in east central Alaska was emitting dense smoke which spread in a westerly direction during the day. DUST: Gulf of Mexico.... A swath of persistent leftover Saharan Dust was still visible predominantly off of the US Gulf coast from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle and from there extending southward into the 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