Friday, September 15, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z September 16, 2017

SMOKE:
Western US...
Wildfire activity concentrated in the region from north central
Washington to southwestern Oregon and northwestern California was
producing significant amounts of moderately dense to thick smoke which
spread generally to the south but also fanned out across the region. A
larger area of surrounding thinner density smoke could be seen across
Washington, Oregon, northern and central California, much of Nevada and
Utah, Idaho, and southwestern Wyoming. The smoke also extended well
off the coast of Oregon and California. Smoke could not be seen this
afternoon and evening in spots farther to the east over Montana and out
over the North Central US due to widespread cloudiness. Only a few of
the many wildfires burning for at least the past few weeks over Idaho
and Montana could briefly be seen through the clouds.

Central US/Great Lakes Region/Northeastern US/Southern Canada...
Leftover thin density smoke primarily from the wildfire activity over
the northwestern part of the US and portions of Central Canada was
beginning to diminish but still covered sizable portions of the Central
US along with northern Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Thicker smoke of at
least moderate density was still visible stretching from the Great Lakes
region across the northern portions of New York and New England and from
southeastern Ontario to off the Canadian Maritimes of southeastern Canada.

South Central US...
A combination of what are likely agricultural and seasonal fires over
the Mid-Mississippi Valley region of southeastern Missouri and eastern
Arkansas and across western Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana,
and eastern Texas were producing a number of relatively small smoke plumes
of mainly thin density which moved generally to the north-northwest.

JS

Earlier This Morning...
Northern Atlantic:
Remnant smoke across much of the Atlantic Ocean between 50W and 65W and
between 20N and 40N has nearly fully detached from the area of smoke
analyzed above. A portion of this remnant layer appears to be wrapping
around the western side of Tropical Storm Jose, with the other portion
just to the east of Jose. Much of this plume appears to be broadly
curling counter-clockwise around Jose with the low-level circulation,
with the rest drifting off towards the west.

DUST:
Atlantic Ocean...
Saharan dust was observed drifting to the west across the central Atlantic
to the northeast of the Lesser Antilles. This region may extend north and
west to the east of Tropical Storm Jose. If so, then the region of smoke
across the north Atlantic Ocean may overlap the region of Saharan dust.

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.