DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z September 10, 2017
SMOKE: Northern Rockies/Central US/Eastern and Northeastern US/Central and Eastern Canada... A very large mass of thin density smoke extended eastward from Idaho and Montana to cover virtually the entire Central and Northeastern US and offshore of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The thinner density smoke was also present over much of central and eastern Canada. Within the thin density smoke area, moderately dense to thick smoke was located covering much of Montana and a portion of the northern and central US from the Dakotas to Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and eastern Kansas. Moderately dense to thick smoke also extended to the northeast and east across a good portion of south central and southeastern Canada as well as the Great Lakes region where it became trapped under a ridge of high pressure. The source for much of this smoke was the ongoing significant wildfire activity occurring especially over central and northern Idaho, western Montana, and portions of central Canada. California and the Pacific Northwest... Thin density smoke from nearby wildfire activity was visible over central and northern California and southwestern Oregon. Moderately dense smoke was seen closer to some of the actual fires in the region. Cloudiness farther to the north over central Oregon and Washington limited smoke detection from satellite imagery in that area. DUST: Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/East of the northern Leeward Islands... Saharan dust was present near and north of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico extending across and east of the far northern Leeward Islands. The dust was also seen around the periphery of Hurricane Jose. JS 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