DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z August 14, 2018.

NESDIS IS INVESTIGATING THE UTILITY OF THIS TEXT NARRATIVE.  IF YOU FIND
THIS PRODUCT VALUABLE, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING
ADDRESS INDICATING HOW YOU AND/OR YOUR AGENCY USE THE INFORMATION.
THANK YOU.  SEND EMAIL RESPONSES TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov.

SMOKE:
Much of Canada and the CONUS...
Wildfire activity from northern California into British Columbia, the
Intermountain West, and the Four Corners region has contributed to an
expansive smoke layer extending across the continent from the northeastern
Pacific Ocean into the northern Atlantic and beyond. Moderately dense
to thick smoke was observed moving out across the Pacific Ocean this
afternoon from the aforementioned wildfire activity with offshore
flow present from southern British Columbia and Puget Sound. The
large swirl that was Hurricane John (centered near 28.1N, 120.5W -
about 150 miles west-southwest of Guadalupe Island) last week is
also helping to drag smoke off the California shoreline south and
west into the Pacific Elsewhere, east-northeasterly flow is dragging
smoke from northern California, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana across the
Intermountain West across southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan,
the Dakotas, the Great Lakes, Ontario, southern Quebec, and the Maritime
Provinces. an anticyclone over the Great Basin, as well as two cyclones
(one situated over western Kansas/Oklahoma and the other over the
Appalachians/mid-Atlantic), are drawing sizable portions of this
smoke south over the Four Corners, the Front Range, the northern Texas
Panhandle, much of the northern and central Mississippi Valley, the
Tennessee Valley, and into the southeastern CONUS and mid-Atlantic. The
most dense smoke was observed across southern British Columbia, the
Pacific Northwest, northern California, the Great Lakes, southern
Ontario/Quebec, and a linear region extending from Des Moines, IA to
Atlanta, GA. Moderately dense smoke surrounds and connects these areas,
while also existing across northern British Columbia, much of Alberta, and
the southern Northwest Territory. A few fires across southern Northwest
Territory and far northern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan
had discrete light to moderate density smoke plumes extending to the
east-northeast of the parent wildfires.

BLOWING DUST:
Caribbean Sea/Gulf of Mexico...
An area of Saharan dust extended over much of the Caribbean and western
Gulf of Mexico, extending inland across eastern Texas, Louisiana, and
southern Arkansas.

Hosley

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