Monday, June 25, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE
IMAGERY THROUGH 0300 UTC June 26, 2018.

NESDIS IS INVESTIGATING THE UTILITY OF THIS TEXT NARRATIVE. IF YOU FIND
THIS PRODUCT VALUABLE, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING
ADDRESS INDICATING HOW YOU AND/OR YOUR AGENCY USE THE INFORMATION. THANK
YOU. SEND EMAIL RESPONSE TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov.

SMOKE:
Western US...
Several wildfires in northern and central California were emitting
moderately dense to thick smoke during the day with one patch of thicker
smoke stretching from southwest of Merced CA in central California to
just north of Ely NV in eastern Nevada. The other axis of thicker smoke
extended from east of Ukiah in northwestern California to just southwest
of Winnemucca NV in northwestern Nevada. A much larger surrounding area
of thinner density smoke attributed mainly to the California wildfires
blanketed much of central and northern California, southeastern Oregon,
southern Idaho, virtually all of Nevada, the western half of Utah,
and northwestern Arizona.

Canada/North Central US...
Numerous wildfires scattered across a broad region from northern Alberta
to the northern half of Ontario were responsible for a very large mass
of thin density smoke which basically covered a significant portion
of southern Canada from northern and eastern Alberta eastward over the
southern half of Hudson Bay, northern Ontario, and as far east was western
Quebec. Patches of thick smoke were noted spreading to the northeast from
wildfires burning in western and central Ontario. Farther to the west,
some of the larger wildfires were responsible for an elongated swath
of moderately dense to thick smoke covering the area extending from
northeastern Alberta over northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba to
the western shore of Hudson Bay. Some of the thinner density smoke from
the Canadian wildfires also appeared to reach into northeastern Montana
and North Dakota. Farther to the west, cloud cover over British Columbia
and points north of there limited smoke detection in satellite imagery.

DUST...
Oregon/Nevada...
A relatively small swath of blowing dust was observed moving to the
south-southeast from a source located in northern Lake County of south
central Oregon. Farther to the south, an area of moderate density
blowing dust was seen moving to the east from the Carson Sink in west
central Nevada with the dust likely reaching east central Nevada by
sunset. Other potential blowing dust from sources in northwestern Nevada
may be occurring and moving to the east though it is difficult to discern
dust from smoke from the California wildfires in this region.

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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg
GIS:    ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/
KML:    http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire)
        http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke)
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.