Thursday, July 13, 2006

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z July 14, 2006.

Montana/Wyoming/South Dakota/Nebraska:
Major fires erupted today across southeastern Montana just east of
Billings MT, northeastern Wyoming just east of Sheridan WY, and western
South Dakota close to the Black Hills. The smoke appeared to be very
dense in visible satellite imagery as it spread and fanned out as it
moved eastward across western and central South Dakota. Some of the smoke
may also have become entrained into a frontal system which extended from
Minnesota through the Central Plains.

Colorado/Kansas:
A large wildfire in northeastern Moffat County of northwestern Colorado
was emitting a locally dense smoke plume which thinned as it spread
eastward across north central Colorado (including the Denver metro
area). Some smoke was also apparent farther to the east over far eastern
Colorado stretching into western Kansas. This smoke may be partly due to
the Moffat County fire as well as detached smoke from the large fires
farther to the southwest including the enormous one in San Bernardino
County of southern California.

Western and Southwestern US(Including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
New Mexico):
The massive fire that erupted over southwestern San Bernardino county
just north of Palm Springs continues to produce a massive dense smoke
plume that extended mainly in a northeastward direction across southern
Nevada including the Las Vegas metro area, and into southwestern Utah
and northern Arizona. Recent visible images also seem to indicate that
the smoke has also begun to spread to the southwest across western
Riverside County and could begin to affect more densely populated
areas between the southeastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the northern
suburbs of San Diego. Farther to the northeast significant fires were
also detected over east central Mohave County and northern Coconino
County of northwestern Arizona as well as central Lincoln and central
White Pine Counties of eastern Nevada. All of these fires were emitting
locally very dense batches of smoke which were generally moving in an
eastward or northeastward direction. These fires along with the huge fire
in San Bernardino County were likely responsible for a very large mass
of moderately dense smoke which covered southern Utah, northern Arizona,
and northwestern New Mexico. Finally, another very large wildfire near the
border of Stanislaus and Santa Clara Counties of west central California
was responsible for a locally very dense area of smoke which was generally
moving in a north-northeasterly direction toward the northern Sierra
Nevada Range. Somewhat thinner smoke from this fire had also spread
northeastward across the central Sierras and the Lake Tahoe region and
into central and northern Nevada. More smoke associated with this fire
had also circulated southward across the San Joaquin Valley. Apparently,
even more smoke from this fire seems to have been caught up in the marine
layer along and offshore of the central CA coast during the day and has
now possibly moved back inland to the northeast across central California
around the San Francisco-Oakland vicinity.

Michigan/Western Great Lakes Region:
A possible batch of leftover smoke from yesterday's active fires over
southeastern Manitoba and western Ontario Provinces of south central
Canada may be contributing to the overall haze noted across portions of
far northern lower Michigan, the UP of Michigan and Lake Superior. Thick
clouds now cover south central Canada making additional fire and smoke
detection difficult in that area.

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.