DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z September 29, 2006
Arizona/New Mexico/Western Texas: The leftover thin area of smoke described earlier today in this product has drifted farther to the south and covers far southern Arizona, southern and eastern New Mexico, and the western Texas panhandle including the El Paso area. This smoke likely originated from the Ventura County fires in southern California as well as some contribution from the fires in southern Coconino County of north central Arizona and Yavapai County of central Arizona. Further contribution from a fire in northern Baja is also possible. The smoke was barely discernible in visible imagery this evening. A handful of fires across north central and central Arizona including the counties of Coconino and Yavapai were emitting moderately dense to locally dense smoke closer to the actual fires. The smoke was generally moving off to the southeast and was affecting Flagstaff. California/Oregon: Rather widespread cirrus cloudiness spreading across California was creating some difficulty for delineating areas of smoke this evening. In fact, despite the fact that the fire over far northern Baja was active through the day, very limited views of smoke were available due to the cloudiness. Believe it is producing significant smoke which is likely moving to the east-northeast, but that cannot be absolutely verified based on satellite imagery. The clouds also made smoke detection in the vicinity of the large Ventura County fire of southern California difficult. A brief look at the area toward sunset as the clouds finally parted there showed a patch of moderately dense to dense smoke apparently moving to the northeast across Kern and northern Los Angeles Counties. The smoke may also extend farther, but again that cannot be determined due to the clouds. The detached thin smoke from the Ventura County fire which earlier in the day was moving northward through central California became visible once again late in the afternoon and early evening across central and even northern California where it merged with smoke being produced by the northern California fires. As for the northern California fires, dense smoke was still being produced by the Siskiyou and Trinity County fires which was moving mainly in a northwesterly direction. A fire in far northern Mendocino County of northwestern California was also adding to the mix with its production of moderately dense to locally dense smoke. The smoke from the northwestern California fires thinned out slightly as it spread northwestward offshore and also into southwestern Oregon. The smoke then spread more to the east across central Oregon. Finally, at least 3 significant fires were detected across interior Oregon. Thick eastward expanding smoke plumes were observed with fires over southern Crook, east central Harney, and southeastern Morrow Counties. Washington/Oregon/Idaho: Numerous fires which were primarily believed to be agricultural or control burns were detected over southern and eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and the extreme western portion of the Idaho panhandle. Quite a few mainly thin to briefly moderately dense puffs were observed moving east which in effect later merged to form somewhat larger patches of smoke across the region. A bit farther to the east much larger fires were occurring over the Idaho Panhandle and central Idaho with thick expanding smoke plumes noted particularly with fires over southern Valley and especially Custer Counties. JS