Saturday, August 11, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1812Z August 11, 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:
Canada/North-Central US...
Large wildfires located predominantly in British Columbia are producing
vast amounts of smoke that combine with smoke originating from the
Western US over Canada's southern Providences. Thick smoke stretches
from central British Columbia, across  central Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba and into western Hudson Bay before also extending southward
into the US and Upper Mississippi Valley. Thin smoke blankets much of
the same area although with a greater extent.

Western US...
Wildfires in northern California, southwestern Oregon, and central Utah
continue to produce relatively localized plumes of thick smoke this
morning. a large area of light smoke covers the majority of the Western
US and travels northward into Canada before combining with smoke from
the Canadian wildfires.

BLOWING DUST:
Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico...
An area of Saharan dust is seen extending from east of the Yucatan
Peninsula over and into most of the Gulf of Mexico. The dust does not
appear to extend far onto land, if at all.


Boll


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.