DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z September 15, 2019
SMOKE:
Southern Oregon/Northern California/Northern Nevada/Southern Idaho...
Thick smoke was visible spreading to the east and northeast from the South
Fire in Tehama County and the Walker Fire in Plumas County of northern
California as well as from a wildfire to the northeast of Crater Lake
in Klamath County of south central Oregon and from a large wildfire
complex in Owyhee County of southwestern Idaho. A larger mass of mainly
thin to moderately dense smoke attributed primarily to these fires was
noted stretching from northern California and southern Oregon eastward
over southern Idaho, northern Nevada, northern Utah, southern Wyoming,
northern Colorado, and much of western and central Nebraska. A patch of
somewhat thicker smoke was present over southeast Wyoming, north central
and northeast Colorado, and southwest Nebraska.
Northern Arizona/Southern Utah/Southern Colorado/Northern New
Mexico/Western and Central Kansas...
Wildfires continue to burn in central and northern Arizona, southern Utah,
and southwestern and south central Colorado though significant cloud cover
moved northward and over the fires in northern and central Arizona and
southern Colorado which limited smoke information from satellite imagery
during the afternoon and early evening hours. Earlier in the day, a swath
of leftover thin density smoke attributed to these fires was visible
extending from southern Utah and northern Arizona eastward across the 4
corners region and much of southern and eastern Colorado and far northern
New Mexico to western and central Kansas. Just north of the cloud deck,
a thick smoke plume expanded and spread to the east from the Decker Fire
in south central Colorado. Farther to the west, locally thicker smoke
was seen near a wildfire in southeastern Iron County of southwestern Utah.
Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley...
Numerous seasonal/agricultural type fires were detected mainly over
southeastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas, northwestern Mississippi,
and northeastern Louisiana resulting in many thin to moderately dense
smoke plumes which quickly moved off to the west during the afternoon
with some of the plumes merging to form larger patches of smoke.
Alaska/Northwestern Canada...
A few wildfires in the Yukon and one in southeastern Alaska were
responsible for a sizable leftover mass of thin density smoke stretching
from the Yukon westward over much of central and southern Alaska with a
bit of the smoke also spreading to the south and offshore over the Gulf
of Alaska.
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