DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z July 23, 2006.
Illinois/Indiana/Ohio/Michigan An area of thin smoke in the mid levels has been moving slowly Seward under influence from a northerly jet streak descending over the ridge. So the smoke can be traced back to the boundary water fires along the MN and Ontario, Canada boarders. Currently the smoke is not more than 20 km wide between Lenawee county MI, across NW OH, to Grant county IN where a bulge of smoke is about 75km wide from NW-SE and then thins back to a 10km wide line across central IN to Shelby county IL. Nebraska/Kansas: An area of thin smoke has similar origins as the aforementioned plume but was transported westward as the jet bifurcated the smoke area. Now the smoke is barely drifting W and S across the Central 1/3rd of NE and N 1/3 of KS. The most dense area is concentrated over the central Platte river near Kearney, NE. N Texas: A fire near Brock in Carter county OK produced a very thin plume of smoke that has drifted SSW into N Texas and is now located over N Parker county, TX. A fire near Ogden in Baylor county TX is producing a very thin plume of smoke that is moving SSW and extends to the Jones/Haskell/Throckmorton county intersection. Wyoming: The Jim Creek WFU Fire is producing a fan of dense to convectively dense smoke between S and SSE (along the spine of the Wind River Mtns) and is bounded by US-191 to the west and I-80 to the south in Sweetwater county. The Magpie WFU Fire in Yellowstone Nat'l Park is producing dense smoke that is moving SE and extends to near Eagle Peak just south of US 14/16/20. The plume is about 25km wide from SW to NE. Smoke from the Little Venus and Bomber Basin fires has combine into a larger plume that extends E to SE in a fan but is difficult to distinguish between mid to upper level cirrus and stratocirrus clouds but the smoke covers most of SE Park county, all of Hot Springs county all of E Fremount and small sections of W Washakie county. Idaho: Thin smoke from the Quartz Creek and Elkhorn fires is merging into a larger plume along the upstream tributaries of the Salmon river and flowing NE into SW MT. Fields of low level cumulus clouds make determination of the NEern extent of the plume difficult to determine at this time. Utah: A new fire in the northern extension of Emery county along the Carbon and Sanpete county lines just south of Clear Creek, UT is producing a towering plume of dense smoke that is moving SW crossing US-89 near Mt. Pleasant and Spring City. Arizona: A new large fire near Rio Verde and Sunflower in Maricopa county is producing moderately dense smoke that is currently moving WSW to I-17 near exit 223. N Baja California: A fire near Real del Castillo on the western flank of the Sierra de Juarez is producing a moderately dense area of smoke that has mixed with local thunderstorms and low level clouds. The area is moving west over the Pacific ocean and is expanding both N and Sward so that it is affecting San Clemente island in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. Northwest Territories: A thin area of smoke covers the Eastern portion of Big Bear Lake from fires burning west of the lake and east of the Mackenzie River. The smoke is high in elevation and is most likely from last nights burning in Canada along with some smoke from the fire in NE Alaska. Gallina