DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300z July 20, 2019
SMOKE:
Alaska/Canada...
Numerous wildfires burning across portions of Alaska and northwestern
and north central Canada were responsible for a very large area of smoke
of varying density which covers much of central and eastern Alaska as
well as a sizable portion of Canada from northwestern Canada eastward
over north central and central Canada to far northeastern Canada. Cloud
cover over central and western Alaska limited information on the extent
of the smoke in that region. The thickest smoke was located from central
to east central and northeastern Alaska and across the northern part of
the Yukon and the northern part of the Northwest Territories. Another
patch of thicker smoke was visible over northern Saskatchewan, northern
Alberta, northwestern British Columbia, and the southwestern portion of
the Northwest Territories.
Gulf of Alaska/Southwestern and South Central Canada/Northwestern U.S...
A swath of leftover mainly thin density smoke attributed to the wildfire
activity in Alaska was seen stretching from the Gulf of Alaska to the east
and southeast over southwestern and south central Canada from southwestern
British Columbia to southern Manitoba. The smoke also affected Washington,
northern Idaho, and northern Montana.
Eastern Pacific/Southern Oregon/Southern Idaho/Northern and Central
Nevada/Northern and Central California...Stripes of thin density smoke
leftover from the wildfires in Alaska was noted over the far eastern
Pacific extending inland over portions of southern Oregon, northern and
central California, southern Idaho, and northern and central Nevada.
Southwestern U.S./Central U.S...
An area of thin density smoke from wildfires burning mainly in Arizona
with some contribution from wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado as well
could be seen over the northeastern quarter of Arizona, southeastern
Utah, the northern half of New Mexico, and roughly the eastern part
of Colorado. From there the smoke spread out to the northeast across
portions of the Central and North Central U.S. from western Kansas and
Nebraska to southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Thicker smoke was
visible moving to the east closer to some of the wildfires burning in
central Arizona and in north central New Mexico.
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