DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z June 21, 2007
Alaska/Northwestern Canada: A fire just north of Homer in south central Alaska was emitting a very dense smoke plume which spread and fanned out in a southerly direction as it moved across Kodiak Island and the Gulf of Alaska. Other fires southeast of Fairbanks, near Circle Hot Springs, and along the Alaskan/Canadian(Yukon Province) border in east central Alaska were also producing dense smoke plumes which were moving generally in a southwesterly direction. A larger mass of residual thin to locally moderately dense smoke from all of these fires was visible across much of south central and southeastern Alaska. Other significant smoke producing fires were located in west central Yukon as well as east central Yukon Province. These dense smoke plumes were also moving to the southwest. Finally, a fire west of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories was responsible for a very large area of smoke of varying density which appeared to spread out both to the west and to the east as it moved to the south and southeast. The smoke likely reached the northern portions of British Columbia and extended at least as far to the southeast as Alberta Province. Alberta/Saskatchewan/North Central Plains/Great Lakes Region: Just prior to sunset with the favorable viewing angle, the large swath of thin to moderately dense smoke continues to be seen stretching from the fires just west of Lake Athabasca, southeastward through Saskatchewan, central and southern Manitoba, southern Ontario, portions of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinios (including Chicago), Michigan, and the western Great Lakes. The smoke is believed to be attributed not only to the large fires west of Lake Athabasca, but also to some of the fires farther to the west in Canada. Quebec/Labrador/Maine: Widespread cloudiness from a weather system prevented the detection of many of the large fires which have been burning across Quebec during the past several days. Only a few fires in eastern Quebec and Labrador were detected. Residual thin to moderately dense smoke was observed in a north-south elongated band extending from the Labrador Sea southward across Labrador, eastern Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the extreme eastern portion of Maine as well as off the northeast coast. Colorado: A large fire continues to burn in Garfield County of western Colorado. Moderately dense to dense smoke was observed moving to the northeast from this fire into north central Colorado. Idaho: A growing fire along the Cassia-Oneida County border in south central Idaho was producing a very large moderately dense to dense smoke plume which had extended all the way to northwestern Wyoming by sunset. Arizona: Smoke was visible at times moving mainly in a westerly and northwesterly direction from a fire in Greenlee County of southeastern Arizona. Cloudiness in the region though made it difficult to obtain specific characteristics of the smoke but it was believed to be at least moderately dense. JS