Sunday, September 16, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 17, 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:

Rockies through the northern Plains to eastern Canada...
The Pole Creek fire continues to burn in central Utah generating
heavy-density smoke, which is being transported towards the northeast
and across Wyoming into the Dakotas, northern Minnesota, across southern
Ontario and over New England. Wildfires in western Wyoming and northern
Colorado are also seen emitting heavy-density smoke plumes, adding to
the northeast-bound upper level smoke concentration.

Northern California/Southwest Oregon...
Residual light-density smoke from wildfires in northern California and
southwest Oregon is seen extending towards the northeast into Washington,
northern Idaho and northwest Montana.

Arizona...
The Platypus fire continues to burn in central Arizona releasing
moderate-density smoke plume. The smoke is spreading across the northeast
quadrant of that state.

Arkansas/Missouri
Agricultural fires were seen burning across southeast Missouri and
northeast Arkansas this afternoon. Individual smoke plumes were moving
towards the southeast following the low level winds.


DUST:
Nevada...
Blowing dust can be seen off of the Black Rock Desert moving towards
the north-northeast. In addition, blowing dust is seen emanating from
the Martin fire burn scar in northern Nevada and moving towards the
northeast into southwest Idaho.

WS


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.