DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z October 19, 2017
SMOKE Far Northwestern Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern Texas... Two fire complexes along the Texas Gulf Coast have been active for at least the last day and a half. As such, these fires have produced a smoke plume covering much of southeastern Texas and the near-shore areas of the Gulf of Mexico. Thicker smoke was observed in the immediate vicinity of these fires. One is in the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge between Galveston and Port Arthur, the other is in San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Matagorda Bay. Northern and Central California/Western Oregon... The wildfire activity throughout northern and central California was observed picking up in intensity this afternoon and producing a smoke plume blanketing much of the northern half of California. Wildfire activity in western Oregon was also seen producing thin smoke, some of which is obscured by a cloud cover associated with an intense extratropical cyclone impacting British Columbia and Washington. Much of the smoke in both California and Oregon was being blown off toward the east or east-northeast. Southeastern CONUS... Dozens of agricultural burns from northeastern Texas to southern Virginia were observed emitting mostly light density smoke with one or two individual plumes producing moderate smoke. These smoke plumes were observed moving counter-clockwise around an apparent high pressure center over the southwestern Appalachian Mountains. South-central Canada/Northern Plains... A dozen or so fires throughout southern Manitoba, northern North Dakota, and southwestern Ontario were seen producing large, thin-to-moderately dense smoke plumes. Strong westerly winds associated with an intense cyclone in northern Manitoba were causing the increased size of the smoke plumes. DUST Southwestern Ontario... Blowing dust was observed extending east-northeast from the North American Palladium quarry in southwestern Ontario north of Thunder Bay. California's Imperial Valley... South of the Salton Sea, blowing dust was observed moving from west to east across the Imperial Valley near NAF El Centro. Leeward Islands and the Atlantic north and east of there... A broad region of Saharan dust was visible covering much of the Lesser Antilles with the western edge having moved across Puerto Rico. The dust extended well out to the north and east into the central North Atlantic and is moving around the southeastern periphery of the Azores High. -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