DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z August 18, 2006.
Washington/Oregon/Idaho: The cluster of large fires burning in the Okanogan National Forest in north central Washington state were continuing to emit a large quantity of moderately dense to locally dense smoke which was spreading in both a northward direction into southern British Columbia Province of southwestern Canada and southeastward across eastern Washington and the Idaho panhandle. Some of the thinner leftover smoke may also exist along the Columbia River Basin and possibly even west of the Cascades in the Seattle region. Other fires located especially over Clackamas County of northwestern Oregon and around the Linn/Deschutes/Lane County border region of west central Oregon were actively producing moderately dense smoke this morning which appeared to be moving north into the Portland metro area. Northern California: Large fires in Siskiyou and Trinity Counties of northern California are producing a moderately dense to locally dense batch of smoke that is primarily spreading westward across western Siskiyou, northern Trinity, and northern Humboldt Counties. Nevada/Idaho/Wyoming: The very large fires burning in central Elko County of northeastern Nevada are responsible for an elongated swath of mainly thin to perhaps moderately dense smoke this morning which extended from northeastern Nevada across southeastern Idaho and northern Utah(over the northern Great Salt Lake) and over central Wyoming. Some of the residual smoke may also be present farther to the east over the Dakotas and the Upper Mississippi Valley/western Great Lakes region, but widespread cloudiness is preventing detection from satellite imagery. Kansas/Nebraska: A thin stripe of possibly leftover detached smoke from the western US fires(primarily the northeastern Nevada fires) was detected in the relatively cloud free region of southwestern and south central Nebraska as well as northwestern Kansas. Oklahoma/Texas: Similar to yesterday morning, satellite imagery showed a narrow but long smoke plume originating from the fire in Atoka County of southeastern Oklahoma and spreading to the north-northwest just west of the Tulsa metro area. The first few visible images this morning also showed possible smoke in a region stretching from western Arkansas/eastern Oklahoma southwestward across the Dallas metro area to central Texas potentially even south of the Waco region. This area of possible smoke was likely due to contributions from the Atoka Oklahoma County fire as well as from several other smoke producing fires over eastern Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana yesterday. Southeastern Texas/Louisiana to the Southern and Central Appalachians: Very early morning GOES-West imagery along with GOES-East imagery indicated a hazy airmass across a large region stretching from southeastern Texas and Louisiana to the central and southern Appalachians around eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia. A large ridge aloft present over this region was likely assisting in trapping any pollutants which are present. There is the possibility that some remnant smoke could be present in this region but the overall contribution (if any) would appear to be rather minor. JS