Tuesday, July 31, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z July 31, 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 RESPONSES TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov.

SMOKE:
Alaska/Western Canada/North-central US...
Moderate-density smoke was observed from fires in central Alaska, the
southern Yukon, and throughout British Columbia. This smoke was adding
to large areas of remnant smoke extending eastward from there across
southern Canada and Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, and is moving
generally eastward.

Eastern Canada...
A number of fires along the far northeastern shore of Lake Huron
in Ontario were producing a large plume of heavy smoke moving
east-northeastward and diffusing into light smoke over Quebec.

Western US...
Smoke from wildfires ranging from California to Colorado up to Washington
and Idaho are contributing to a wide area of light smoke across much
of the US west of the Great Divide. Further areas of remnant smoke
from previous days' fire activity were observed over the central US as
well. The most notable smoke areas are described below.

California/Oregon...A number of large wildfires in northern California
and southwestern Oregon are producing large amounts of heavy smoke
which blanket a region extending from San Francisco Bay to Eugene,
Oregon. Moderate-density smoke extends northward to east of Mount Hood.
The smoke is generally moving northward, but at a fairly slow rate.

Colorado...A fire in west-central Colorado is producing heavy smoke in
a plume extending southward from the source.

MC


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.