DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z June 16, 2007
Utah: A fire in Beaver County of southwest Utah flared up late in the evening and is producing moderately dense to dense smoke that is moving to the east northeast. Alaska: A fire in Yukon-Koyukuk County in western Alaska is producing a moderately dense plume of smoke that is spreading to the east of the fire. Alberta: The large fires just west of Lake Athabasca continue to produce very dense smoke. The large group of fires closest to Lake Athabasca are producing a significant amount of very dense smoke that is moving to the south reaching the central parts of Alberta. Further to the west, several fires are producing moderately dense smoke that is moving to the south. Quebec: A fire on the southeastern edge of the Hudson Bay is producing dense to very dense smoke that is moving to the north northwest and spreading over the southeastern portion of the Hudson Bay. In central Quebec, the enormous group of fires continue burning and producing massive amounts of very dense smoke that is affecting most of eastern Canada as well as the Great Lakes Region of the United States. The initial plumes of smoke from these fires are moving to the east, but then changes direction and is moving back to the southwest. This enormous area of smoke stretches to the northeast over New Foundland and into the Labrador Sea, then down along the southern border of Quebec, eventually reaching as far southwest as Lake Superior, Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Also affected by this smoke is northeastern Wisconsin and northern Michigan. The densest smoke is found in central/southcentral Quebec. Central and Northern Mississippi Valley: Thin to occasionally moderate smoke stretches from northern Arkansas through all of Missouri into Iowa..southern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. The smoke originated from numerous agricultural fires in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri the past several days. The West: An area of aerosol stretches from central California (roughly from Santa Barbara to San Francisco) to the northeast across central Nevada, northern Utah and northwest Wyoming. The source is likely large fires that were burning in northern China and Mongolia. Banks/ALS