Wednesday, September 12, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z September 13, 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:
Northern and Central U.S. and Southeastern Canada...
A large leftover area of very thin density smoke from recent Western
U.S. wildfire activity was barely visible over portions of the Northern
and Central U.S. extending northeastward over the Great Lakes Region
and across Ontario and Quebec in southeastern Canada.

Colorado/Utah/Arizona/Southern Wyoming...
A number of wildfires were detected over northern and western Colorado,
Utah, and northern Arizona with varying density smoke plumes associated
with them. Moderately dense to thick smoke was visible spreading to the
northeast from the wildfires in Coconino County of northern Arizona, near
the border of Kane and Garfield Counties in southern Utah, in southern
Utah County of north central Utah, and near the border of Routt and Grand
Counties in north central Colorado. The plumes associated with the fires
in north central Colorado and north central Utah were especially thick.

Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho/Western and Central Montana...
Scattered fire activity in southeastern Washington, northern and
central Idaho, and western Montana was responsible for patches of
mainly thin density smoke which was seen over the region extending from
southeastern Washington across northern and central Idaho to western
Montana. Cloudiness in the region though did interfere with additional
information concerning the extent and density of the smoke.

Southern Oregon/Northern and Central California...
Wildfires continue to burn in southwestern Oregon and northern
California resulting in an area of varying density smoke affecting
the region. Cloudiness here as well likely interfered with information
concerning the extent and density of the smoke.

DUST:
Southwestern U.S./Northern Baja...
A few swaths of relatively thin density blowing dust were seen spreading
to the east and northeast from a number of sources in the Southwestern
U.S. Dust was visible emanating from sources in southeastern California
and southern Nevada as well as northwestern Arizona. The most prominent
dust was noted over far southern California to the south of the Salton
Sea spreading to the east and over northern Baja to the northwest of
the Gulf of California spreading to the north.

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.