DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2330Z November 13, 2018.
SMOKE:
California...
Conditions have not significantly changed since this morning/early
afternoon...from the previous smoke analysis...Cloudiness was obscuring
the Camp fire in northern California preventing any smoke to be seen in
satellite imagery which is likely still present at the very least in the
vicinity of the fire. A flare up of the Woolsey fire near the border of
Ventura and Los Angeles counties this morning resulted in a new burst of
thick smoke which spread to the west and southwest and off the coast to
the east and southeast of the northern most Channel Islands. The smoke
emitted during the past few days by these wildfires remains aloft well
off the southern California and Baja California coastlines with another
patch visible off the northern California and Oregon coastlines. More
smoke may actually be present along and off the U.S. West Coast but
cloudiness is inhibiting smoke detection in satellite imagery.
Northern Baja...
This afternoon, three separate fires broke out along the coast of northern
Baja California, which emitted thin to moderately dense smoke that moved
westward out across the Pacific. This smoke had not yet coalesced with
any smoke from the Woolsey Fire.
Arizona...
Five separate fires across the Mogollon Rim were observed producing thin
to moderately dense smoke this afternoon and evening. Much of this smoke
was observed moving off to the west or west-southwest.
Pacific Northwest...
Thin smoke was observed moving north to north-northwest from
fires across northern Idaho, eastern Washington, and southeastern
British Columbia. These smoke plumes were observed between cloud
masses. Underneath the cloud mass encompassing much of western Canada,
as well as the cloud mass across southern Idaho and Oregon, there is
likely more smoke being emitted. However, the cloud cover makes analysis
of any smoke very difficult to impossible, even through any small breaks
in the cloud cover.
DUST:
Arizona/Northwest Mexico...
Conditions have not significantly changed since this morning/early
afternoon...from the previous smoke analysis...A stripe of moderately
dense blowing dust was visible moving to the west from the Wilcox
Playa in southeastern Arizona. Another batch of blowing dust was noted
spreading to the southwest from a source in the west central portion of
the Mexican state of Sonora in northwest Mexico. Also, multiple swaths
of blowing dust of varying density were seen spreading to the west and
southwest from spots in northern and central Baja.
JS/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