Saturday, August 11, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 12, 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:
Southern Half of Canada/Much of the US with the exception of the Southern,
Southeastern, and far Eastern portions of the nation...
The ongoing major wildfire activity affecting portions of the Western
US and especially Western Canada continues to produce copious amounts of
smoke with an enormous area of varying density smoke blanketing virtually
all of the southern half of Canada and much of the US with the exception
of the region from a portion of Texas and New Mexico eastward to the
Southeast US Coast and northward from there to Maine. Within this large
mass of smoke, thicker density smoke extends from central and northern
California and southern Oregon northeastward to Idaho and Montana. Much
of this smoke was believed to be from the large wildfires burning in
California, southwestern Oregon, as well as a few over central Idaho
and southwestern Montana. Another patch of thicker smoke was present
over western Colorado and eastern and central Utah which was mostly
from wildfires in those regions. Strong winds appeared to fan wildfires
burning in Washington state, northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, and
the southern part of British Columbia resulting in a massive amount of
thick density smoke which spread quickly to the north and northeast. The
thicker smoke from these fires covered much of southern Canada from
British Columbia eastward to southern Hudson Bay and Ontario. A swath
of relatively thicker smoke was then transported southward across the
western Great Lakes Region and particularly from Minnesota southward
to just north of Kansas City. The low pressure system off the Pacific
Northwest Coast which was responsible for the stronger winds inland
also was causing some of the smoke from British Columbia to wrap back
to the west and south offshore around the low circulation with a stripe
of relatively thicker smoke then spreading to the east and northeast
and back inland over western Washington including Seattle. Additional
wildfires widely scattered over a broad region from northern British
Columbia eastward to Manitoba and western Ontario were also contributing
some to the huge area of smoke over Canada.

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 may
extend inland slightly over Louisiana, Texas, and eastern Mexico though
cloudiness in these areas makes that determination difficult. Another
patch of Saharan dust was visible spreading to the west just south and
east of Puerto Rico.

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.