DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z August 2, 2017
SMOKE: Area from southern British Columbia to central California and to southern Ontario... The seemingly unabating wildfire activity throughout British Columbia is again contributing to a smoke plume of varying density that extends south to around Vandenberg AFB in California and extends eastward to southern Ontario. Wildfires throughout the Western United States, specifically ones in northeastern California, northern Oregon, and western Montana, are also contributing to this smoke plume. The heaviest smoke is located throughout southern British Columbia, much of Washington State, and the Pacific Ocean just offshore of the Olympic Peninsula. Encompassing this region, as well as extending westward through Montana and Wyoming, is a large region of moderately dense smoke. In addition to this, individual smoke plumes throughout the western United States and pockets of remnant smoke over northern Nevada and central Utah appear to contain moderately thick smoke as well. Northwest Territory/Central Canada... Wildfires across the northern Yukon and much of the Northwest Territories are producing a mixed density smoke plume across northern and central Canada. The wildfires producing the most smoke are found throughout south-central Northwest Territory, just southeast of Great Slave Lake. These fires are producing smoke plumes of both moderate and thick density smoke over northern Saskatchewan and for northeastern Alberta. Other fires throughout northwestern and east-central Northwest Territory are producing moderately thick smoke plumes, which contribute to an encompassing thinner density smoke plume. The thinner density smoke plume extends into Nunavut, northern Manitoba, and much of Alberta and Saskatchewan. A lone wildfire in northwest Alberta is producing light density smoke which, combined with the smoke from the fires over southern Northwest Territory, merges with the smoke plume over the northwestern United States and southern Alberta. Eastern New England/Canadian Maritime Provinces... A swath of thin density remnant smoke possibly attributed to a combination of wildfire activity over Canada as well as the Western US was seen stretching from Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces eastward into the far northern Atlantic. DUST: Bahamas/Cuba/Hispaniola... An oval shaped Saharan dust layer is observed extending northeastward from eastern Cuba, northern Hispaniola, and the eastern Bahamas into the central North Atlantic Ocean. This feature is generally moving to the northwest and then north around the high pressure system dominating flow across much of the North Atlantic. Puerto Rico/Leeward and Windward Caribbean Islands... A second region of Saharan dust is seen over the far eastern Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the Leeward Islands, and the Windward Islands. This feature extends eastward into the central Atlantic and is moving westward. -Hosley 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