Friday, August 11, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 11, 2017

SMOKE:
Western and Central Canada/Northwest US/Inter-mountain/North and Central
Rockies/Plains.

Wildfires burning across southern/central British Columbia and across
the southern sections of the Northwest Territories are producing a large
area of dense to very dense smoke over Western/Central Canada and the
northern US.  Very thick smoke spreads across the central sections of the
entire British Columbia province and into the southwest regions of the
Northwest Territories.  Dense smoke from the wildfires extend into almost
all of British Columbia, into central sections of Northwest Territories
and northwestern Alberta.  The smoke is combining with the smoke in
the northwest/northern sections of the US.   Smoke is seen coming from
wildfires burning over northern California, Oregon, parts of Washington
state, northern Idaho and western Montana.  The second region of heavy
dense smoke is from wildfires burning over the southern Northwest
Territories. The heavy smoke spreads south from the wildfires into
northeast Alberta and northern Saskatchewan.  Moderate smoke stretches
farther south into central sections of Alberta and Saskatchewan and
into northern/central Manitoba.    Light smoke can be seen as far east
as parts of western/central Ontario and south into the Great Lakes region.

Northern Canada:
An area of light to possible moderately dense smoke can be seen extending
east across northern sections of Yukon and Northwest Territories and
nearing Hudson Bay.  The smoke is from wildfires burning over northern
sections of the territories.  The full view of smoke cannot be seen due
to cloud cover.

California:
Several fires are burning across the state producing light to moderately
dense smoke plumes.

J Kibler

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.