DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z July 30, 2017
SMOKE: Much of Canada from British Columbia to Quebec/Area from the Northwestern US across the North Central US to the Northeast... Once again, a very large area of thin density smoke covered the US from northern California and Oregon across the North Central US to the Northeast with very thin density smoke also stretching southward over Ohio and the Mid-Atlantic region. Across Canada, the huge mass of thin density smoke was also present extending from British Columbia and the southern portion of the Northwest Territories eastward over Hudson Bay and a portion of Quebec. The source for all of this smoke was a combination of fires scattered across central and western Canada and over the northwestern portion of the US. The thickest smoke included an elongated area of moderately dense smoke which stretched from British Columbia to Ontario and dense smoke which covered southern and eastern British Columbia, central Alberta, and western and southwestern Saskatchewan. The source for this thicker region of smoke is primarily the wildfires burning in southern and southeastern British Columbia. Over the Western US, some moderately dense smoke was visible over central Montana with locally thicker smoke seen closer to the fires over western Montana and the northern portion of Idaho. Moderately dense to thick smoke was present closer to the fire activity over northern California and southern Oregon and extending to the northeast from there over southern and eastern Oregon. Alaska/Far Northwestern Canada... Several wildfires in eastern Alaska were responsible for a smoke area of varying density which covers eastern and northeastern Alaska as well as a portion of the nearby Yukon province in northwestern Canada. The smoke also likely extends northward over the Arctic Ocean though cloudiness and the limit of the satellite field of view inhibits smoke detection there. 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