Wednesday, July 18, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE
IMAGERY THROUGH 1825 UTC July 18, 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:
California/Oregon/Utah...
The Ferguson Fire in the Central Sierras continues to burn emitting
light-to-moderate density smoke. The smoke is dispersing mostly northwest
from the fire, and accumulating along the San Joaquin and Sacramento
valleys. Additional fires are seen burning across southeast Oregon with
the smoke seen traveling southwest towards the Pacific, as well as in
south central Idaho where light-density smoke is seen moving towards
the southeast.

Southwest Ontario, Canada...
A few fires were producing medium to heavy density smoke that was moving
towards the northeast and curving back southwest.

There was also a large thin density smoke across Canada moving east most
likely originating in Russia.

Dust:
Texas/Gulf of Mexico...
An area of suspended dust/aerosol linked to long-range transport from
the Sahara was seen along the Texas Gulf coast.


-Westbrook

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.