DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z October 25, 2005
Southern and Southeastern US: A large number of smoke producing fires were present across the southern and southeastern US. The most prominent ones were along the Gulf Coast extending from the Florida panhandle westward to southeastern Texas. Brisk northwesterly winds were transporting the smoke well to the southeast and over the Gulf of Mexico. In some cases the smoke plumes extended 150 miles or more to the south and southeast of the fires. A few of the thickest smoke plumes were emanating from fires near or in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida Panhandle, the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Chambers County TX, and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Brazoria County TX. North Dakota/Southern Canada: A tremendous number of agricultural burns were noted across North Dakota and the southern portions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba Provinces of Canada, but only a few of these fires were producing smoke plumes that were visible in GOES imagery. South Dakota: A rather large fire close to the WY/SD border in the Black Hills National Forest was responsible for a narrow but dense smoke plume which was moving southward toward the WY/SD/NEB border. Arizona: A few fires just north and east of Payson, AZ in the Coconino National Forest were spreading moderately dense smoke plumes northward toward the southern portions of Flagstaff. California/Oregon/Washington: Scattered significant fires were detected this afternoon and evening across the western slopes of the Sierras from south central California northward to far north central California. The dense smoke plumes were generally moving northward and had combined to produce very large smoke coverage which extended well north of the CA/OR border. Other scattered fires over southern and central Oregon were also responsible for rather large dense smoke plumes which were moving northward. In addition, a combination of smoke from all of these fires over OR/N CA and possibly some blowing dust had combined to form a very large area with a smoky/hazy appearance on evening GOES visible imagery that covered all of central and north central Oregon and stretched northward into Washington across spots such as Yakima and all the way to north central Washington. JS