Friday, October 5, 2018

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z October 6, 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:
Southeast CONUS...
Numerous likely agricultural burns were observed producing mainly thin
smoke this afternoon from Colorado into southern Virginia. The smoke was
moving around surface high pressure centered over northern Georgia. Fair
weather cumulus clouds were present across much of the Southeastern CONUS,
likely obscuring analysis of smoke in some spots.

Front Range and West-central Plains...
More likely agricultural burns were observed producing light smoke across
eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and
Texas. Much of this smoke was moving off toward the northeast ahead of
a cold front, while one smoke plume in northeastern Colorado was moving
south after the passage of the cold front.

Pacific NW and Central British Columbia...
From central British Columbia into the Columbia river Valley in Washington
and Oregon and northwestern Montana, mainly thin density smoke plumes
were observed emanating from fires. Much of the smoke was moving off
toward the east. Worth mentioning is the presence of thick cloud cover
across this region into northern California. The presence of this cloud
cover was obscuring the ground and preventing analysis of smoke across
northern California, Oregon, and Idaho.

BLOWING DUST:
Southern California...
Across portions of the Mojave Desert just south of the San Joaquin Valley,
blowing dust was observed transporting dust east along the Interstate
15 Corridor from the rim of the San Joaquin Valley towards Edwards AFB.

Hosley

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.