Tuesday, August 29, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 30, 2017

SMOKE:
Pacific Northwest/Eastern Great Plains...
Wildfires throughout California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and
British Columbia have been observed producing a smoke plume of varying
density. This large smoke plume is riding around the periphery of a ridge
over the western CONUS, traveling over eastern Montana and south along the
eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Many of the smoke plumes emanating
from individual wildfires are of moderate to heavy density, which is
contributing to the thick smoke that is blanketing much of western
Montana, Washington State, western Oregon, and southern British Columbia.

Northern and Eastern Canada/Great Lakes/New England...
A predominantly light density smoke region is observed covering much
of eastern Canada from eastern Saskatchewan to southern portions of
Greenland. This smoke layer is likely the result of wildfires throughout
central Canada. Closer to the source region, moderate to heavy smoke
has been analyzed. Much of the most dense smoke is emanating from the
previously mentioned wildfires. However,the moderate density smoke likely
has a second origin in addition to the wildfires: remnant smoke from
the wildfires in southern British Columbia that has circumnavigated the
globe. The remnant smoke, which still has portions of moderate density,
can be seen across northern portions of Alaska and the northern provinces
of Canada then coming caross the wildfires in central Saskatchewan. This
remnant feature is drifting northward while much of the plume in eastern
Canada is moving off to the east.

North of Hawaii into northern California...
A remnant stripe of light to moderate density smoke was observed extending
from just north of Hawaii into northern California, where the stripe
appears to merge with a massive smoke plume emanating from wildfires
in northern California. This smoke has also likely circumnavigated the
globe, as per the series of OMPS Aerosol Index maps for August 2017. The
southern portion is wrapping up into a small cyclonic feature, while
the northern portion is moving off to the east into the western CONUS.


DUST:
Caribbean Islands and points north and east...
A Saharan dust layer is observed over the Windward Islands. This layer
also extends north to just east of Bermuda and to the east into the
central tropical Atlantic Ocean. This dust layer, seen for much of the
past few days, has been and is moving off to the north and east.


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

 


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.