DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 21, 2012
Pacific Northwest Several large wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana are producing a vast area of remnant light density smoke that stretches from southern British Columbia southeast over the Pacific Northwest and into the central plains reaching as far east as Kentucky and as far south as central Texas. Moderate to very dense smoke is observed this evening over the named states in which wildfires are active plus areas of western Wyoming and northern Utah. Canada From Earlier: A small patch of light remnant smoke could be seen over Alberta this morning. This smoke is likely due to the fires located in northern British Columbia and Alberta and is dropping southward. This Evening: Patches of locally dense smoke are present in the immediate vicinity of fires in central and northern British Columbia and northern Alberta. Ramirez 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