Saturday, October 1, 2005

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z October 2, 2005

California:
Smoke associated with the Southern California fires of Topanga and
Burbank is much less discernible this evening than over the past couple
of days. Some smoke earlier today was visible extending from the Burbank
fire northwestward to the Ventura County line. A relatively small patch
of smoke from a fire detected over southwestern San Bernardino County
was visible spreading eastward this evening.

Remainder of the Western US:
A rapidly growing fire near the northeastern Utah(Dagget
County)-northwestern Colorado(Moffat County) border was producing a smoke
plume spreading northeastward just before sunset. The intensity of this
fire on satellite imagery suggests it is likely producing a very thick
smoke plume after sunset. Other fires located in the Dixie National Forest
and Bryce Canyon National Park in western Garfield County of south central
Utah were also producing smoke plumes spreading northeastward. Thick smoke
from a large fire in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge of southwestern
Arizona was observed moving northeastward toward the western suburbs of
Phoenix. Additional wildfires were analyzed this evening over extreme
northwestern New Mexico, central and northwestern Wyoming, and the central
Sierras in California. These fires also had smoke plumes associated with
them that were moving generally northward or northeastward. Clouds from
an approaching frontal system had overspread Idaho making detection of
smoke impossible even though satellite data continued to detect several
fires through the cloudiness.

Central US:
Clusters of fires across the northwestern Texas Panhandle, southwestern
and south central Kansas were responsible for localized patches of
smoke that were moving off to the northeast. A concentrated area of
what is believed to be primarily agricultural burns located mainly over
southeastern Missouri was producing an area of smoke which had drifted
northward into southern Illinois. A thick smoke plume from at least 2
large fires over northern Cook County of northeastern Minnesota, near
the US-Canadian border, was detected spreading northward into Canada
this evening.

JS

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.