DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z August 15, 2006.
California/Nevada/Oregon/Washington/Idaho/Montana/Wyoming/British Columbia/Alberta/Saskatchewan: A tremendous amount of smoke covers a large area of the western U.S. and southwest/south central Canada from the numerous wildfires. Smoke stretches across most of eastern California until getting to northern California where it covers all of that section of the state. The smoke then stretches across most of western and northern Oregon and across most of eastern/central Washington state before spreading into southeastern British Columbia. Then, the smoke moves east into a large section of western and all of southern Alberta, northern/central Idaho and covers all of Montana except for the far eastern region, but the smoke is getting close to entering that section. The smoke also covers southwestern Saskatchewan and northwest/north central Wyoming. Some light residue smoke can be seen in central South Dakota/Nebraska and northwestern Kansas and small area of eastern central Colorada. The largest smoke producing fires from the smoke mentioned above are the following. Southern California: The large fire burning in the Los Padres National Forest near the town of Gorman continues to produce a large area of moderately dense smoke moving north NE along interstate 5 and reaching the southern border county of Tulare. Then, also from last night two fires burning in the Sequoia National Forest in Tulare county are emitting dense smoke moving northeast into extreme western Nevada. Northern California: The Trinity National Forest fire continues to produce large amounts of very thick smoke moving west and north and reaching southern Oregon and the Pacific Coastline. The fire in Mendocino county is emitting moderately dense smoke moving west NW towards the coast. Oregon: The very large erratic smoke producing fire in the Deschutes National Forest is continuing to burn with smoke moving east (both northeast/southeast). The northeast moving smoke is beginning to reach southern Washington. Washington: The Tripod/Complex fire which has been burning for weeks is emitting a enormous amount of very thick smoke which is moving along northern Washington/Idaho/Montana and southern British Columbia/Alberta. Moderately dense smoke from this fire is reaching southwestern Saskatchewan. Idaho: Very large fires burning in the Boise and Payette National Forest are producing areas of very thick smoke moving across central Idaho and into western/central Montana. The fires across this region have been burning over the last couple of weeks. Montana: Fires in Ravalli and Lewis and Clark counties are producing area of dense smoke moving east across the western region of Montana. Wyoming: A large fire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest is producing an area of thick smoke moving east across most of northern Wyoming. Two growing fires in the county of Natrona are emitting narrow plumes of smoke beginning to reach the border states of South Dakota and Nebraska (western section). Baja California: A fire in northern Baja California near the town of Ensenada is producing an area of moderately dense smoke moving north into the counties of San Diego and Imperial. J Kibler