Tuesday, June 18, 2019

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 19, 2019

SMOKE:
Canada...
Large wildfires continue to burn especially in northern Alberta resulting
in smoke which covers much of the central and northern portions of
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba provinces as well as the central and
southern part of the Northwest Territories and much of Nunavut. A band
of the smoke also appeared to extend eastward over the northern part
of Hudson Bay and off the far northeast coast of Canada though cloud
cover there hindered smoke detection in satellite imagery. The Thickest
smoke was located across the northern portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba provinces as well as the southeast part of the Northwest
Territories and southern Nunavut. Farther to the south, several wildfires
in central Manitoba and western Ontario produced moderately dense to thick
smoke which moved generally to the west and southwest during the day.

Southwestern and South Central U.S...
The Woodbury and Coldwater wildfires in central Arizona were both
producing moderate to thick density smoke which moved to the east and
northeast during the day. A much larger region of thinner density smoke
attributed to these fires as well as to at least one wildfire in west
central New Mexico and to additional fires in northwestern Mexico was
present across roughly the eastern half of Arizona, much of New Mexico,
northwestern Texas, and western and central Oklahoma. A smaller swath
of thin density smoke possibly from the aforementioned fire activity was
visible across far northeastern Texas, northern Louisiana, and far west
central Mississippi.

Alaska...
The North River wildfire complex in western Alaska was emitting a plume
of thick smoke which moved to the west off the coast and over the Bering
Strait. The smoke then wrapped to the south and even to the southeast
over the Bering Strait and back inland over southwestern Alaska around
a low pressure circulation.

JS

Earlier This Morning...
Western/Central Mexico...
Widespread fire activity persists along western Mexico, northwestern
Veracruz, and the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. Pockets of moderate density
smoke could be seen from  the visible satellite imagery. Light density
smoke from these fires was stretching offshore to the southwest over
the Pacific and northward into portions of Arizona and New Mexico.

YL

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.