DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z December 14, 2017
SMOKE: California/Pacific Northwest/Near-coastal/Off-shore Pacific Waters: The wildfires in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties continue to produce moderately thick smoke. The plume is spreading outward towards the Pacific Ocean covering an area that extends from Oregon to Baja California. The bulk of the smoke plume is now being advected towards the south-southwest following the prevailing atmospheric flow while traveling a distance of approximately 1000 miles from the source. Black Hills/Sandhills: Smoke emanating from the Legion Lake Fire in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota subsided during the afternoon hours until clouds moved over the area obstructing the view. The plume was transported towards the southeast across western Nebraska and into the western/central Kansas and northern Oklahoma. WS 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