DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z June 29, 2012
Western Wildfires: The numerous wildfires in the western US (primarily in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana) have been producing large amounts of smoke for several days. The remnant smoke now covers much of the eastern two thirds of the country. A broad area of moderately dense smoke extends from Colorado, Wyoming and eastern Montana eastward across the northern Plains into Minnesota and Wisconsin where it mixes with clouds in a weather system. The smoke gets caught up in the weather system and has been pulled north over Hudson Bay. The smoke has also been drawn to the southeast across the Great Lakes and into the mid Atlantic, Southeast US, and northern Gulf of Mexico. A general area of light smoke was also drifting across the central and southern Plains and across Texas and into New Mexico. Arizona: An batch of aerosol was observed over southeastern Arizona during the afternoon. It is not known if this was smoke from fires in that region or if it was blowing dust kicked up by nearby thunderstorms. Nevada: A streak of thin density blowing dust was visible moving to the east and northeast from dry lake beds in northwestern Nevada during the late afternoon. Northwest Canada: Left over smoke from the numerous fires burning in the Yukon and Northwest Territories has left an area of remnant smoke from Great Bear Lake northwestward into the northern Yukon and extending into the Arctic ocean. Ruminski/JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov