DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z August 15, 2017
SMOKE: Canada/Alaska... A massive area of thin to moderate density smoke blanketed much of central and northern Canada from the western half of the Hudson Bay to the northern portion of the Yukon and into northeastern Alaska. A large area of heavy density smoke covered most of western half of the Northwest Territories, southern Nunavut, extreme northeastern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, the western half of the Hudson Bay, and portions of central/northern Ontario. Another area of heavy density smoke covered a good portion of central British Columbia around where the wildfires in British Columbia were burning. Most of these large areas of smoke can be attributed to numerous wildfires in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, northern Saskatchewan, and northern Manitoba. Continental United States... Thin density smoke from wildfires in Canada stretched across portions of northeastern Washington, extreme northern Idaho, most of Montana, northern/eastern Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, northern Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, most of Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, northwestern Kentucky, and western Ohio. Two smaller areas of light density smoke from wildfires in California and Oregon covered portions of California, Oregon, and Nevada. A small area of remnant moderate density smoke from fires burning in Canada covered the arrowhead of Minnesota, extreme northern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Areas of moderate density smoke were observed near/around wildfires in the western United States. DUST: The Leeward Islands... An area of Saharan dust seen over the open Atlantic Ocean was located around the Leeward Islands and spreading eastward. Whisnant 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