DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 14, 2017
SMOKE: Canada... A huge expanse of moderately dense to thick smoke blankets much of central and northern Canada from the central and northern part of Hudson Bay westward to the northern portion of the Yukon with some of the thicker smoke also extending southward into northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and a good portion of Manitoba. The thicker smoke appeared to stretch into far northern Canada and north of the satellite field of view. Much of this smoke was attributed to numerous large wildfires occurring especially over central Canada. More thick smoke was visible over the southern part of British Columbia emanating from the ongoing significant wildfire activity there. In addition to the thicker smoke described above, a very large region of thinner density surrounding smoke covered a good chunk southern Canada as well. Western and Central US... Thin density smoke stretched across portion of far northern California, Oregon, much of Washington, the northern part of Idaho, and virtually all of Montana. The smoke then extended to the southeast from Montana and the northern half of Wyoming to the Central Plains. The source for this smoke was believed to be a combination of wildfires burning over northern California, Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana with some additional contribution from the fires in southwestern and central Canada. Farther to the north, an area of moderately dense smoke linked to the central Canadian fires was seen over northern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Finally, a separate patch of mainly thin density smoke was visible moving to the east over central and southern Nevada. This smoke was from fires burning in the Sierras of eastern California. Ohio Valley/Great Lakes Region/Northern New England... A region of thin density smoke attributed mainly to the wildfires in central Canada was seen spreading to the east over Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and northern New England. DUST: The Atlantic East of the Islands... An area of Saharan dust was visible spreading to the west over the open Atlantic east of the Leeward Islands. 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