DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z August 17, 2006.
Washington/Oregon/Idaho: The cluster of large fires burning in the Okanogan National Forest in north central Washington state were responsible for a large area of moderately dense to locally dense smoke which was spreading southward and covered much of the eastern two-thirds of Washington, the northern Idaho panhandle, and north central Oregon. It appeared as though a bit of the smoke may have been able to move westward over the Cascade range and possibly close to Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR. However, cloudiness present west of the Cascades is making verification of this assumption difficult. Northern California: A relatively small patch of locally dense smoke was observed in the general vicinity of the fires over western Siskiyou and northwestern Trinity Counties of northern California. The smoke appeared to be moving to the west or southwest and into northern Humboldt County, but surface flow was rather light and variable. Nevada/Idaho/Utah/Wyoming/Montana/the Dakotas/Nebraska: Patchy areas of smoke were visible this morning across portions of this region which were primarily believed to have originated from the very large fires burning in central Elko County of northeastern Nevada. The densest smoke was confined to northeastern Nevada and was currently moving in an easterly or east-northeasterly direction. Much thinner smoke was noted moving eastward across southeastern Idaho, northern Utah, far western Wyoming, and possibly southern Montana. Widespread cloudiness over southern Montana was hindering smoke detection there. Relatively thin smoke was then also visible farther to the east over the Dakotas and western Nebraska. Oklahoma/Arkansas/eastern Texas/western Louisiana: A narrow plume of thin to locally moderately dense smoke was observed this morning moving to the north-northwest from a significant fire located in eastern Atoka County of southeastern Oklahoma. The smoke plume traveled into north central Oklahoma between the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas. Morning visible imagery also showed a detached batch of thin to moderately dense smoke over western Arkansas which may be associated with the fire over Atoka County since visible imagery last night indicated a large smoke plume moving in a northeasterly direction. Fires were detected this morning over the eastern Texas counties of Polk and near the Harrison-Panola County border as well as the western Louisiana Parish of Sabine. Localized smoke plumes were observed particularly with the Polk County fire. The Polk County plume was currently moving in a westerly direction. In addition, visible imagery also showed an area of haze across eastern Texas and western Louisiana which may possibly contain a bit of leftover smoke from some of the fires burning in this region yesterday. However, the presence of cirrus clouds over this region was adding to the difficulty in detecting any leftover smoke. JS