DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0248Z August 7, 2019
SMOKE:
Northwestern U.S./North Central and Central U.S./South Central Canada...
A broad region of mainly thin density smoke attributed primarily to
wildfires burning in Washington, Idaho, western Montana, Oregon, and
northern Nevada was visible this afternoon extending from the Pacific
Northwest eastward to at least as far as the Dakotas. The thinner density
smoke also was noted extending across southwestern and south central
Canada from British Columbia to Ontario. A swath of moderately dense smoke
associated with the fires in northern Nevada was seen over southeastern
Idaho, southern Wyoming, and into northern Colorado. A patch of moderately
dense to thick smoke was present over eastern Washington and northern
Idaho near wildfire activity there with localized thicker smoke also seen
closer to some of the wildfires burning in western Montana, northeastern
Oregon, and southwestern Canada/north central Washington state.
Western Canada...
A large wildfire burning in northwestern British Columbia was responsible
for thin to moderately dense smoke which covered northwestern and central
British Columbia. More localized plume of thicker smoke was seen near
and to the west of the wildfire.
Southwestern Texas...
A sizable plume of moderate density smoke was observed moving southwest
from a large fire in southwest Texas. An additional region of heavy
density smoke was observed in the more immediate area of the fire,
which was located just west of Eldorado, Texas. Additional areas of
light density smoke were visible moving west-southwest from other fire
activity closer to the Eldorado area.
EARLIER THIS MORNING...
Northwestern and Central Canada...
Smoke of generally thin density was seen in between breaks in the clouds
over the western and southern portion of the Northwest Territories as well
as northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and northern Manitoba. This
leftover smoke could still be due in part to recent wildfire activity
in northwestern Canada and Alaska which has diminished quite a bit in
the past week though some contribution from major wildfire activity in
Siberia-northern Russia could also be occurring.
Area from the South Central U.S. to the Northeastern U.S...
An aerosol of unknown origin/composition was seen early this morning over
the region stretching from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the interior
portions of the Northeast. It is not known if this aerosol was composed
of any residual smoke or if it is mainly other atmospheric pollutants.
JL
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