DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200 July 30, 2007
Northern Rockies/High Plains: A huge area of dense smoke from numerous fires over northern and central Idaho and western Montana is seen covering all of Montana and much of the northern two thirds of Idaho and extending into southern Saskatchewan, southwest Manitoba and northern North Dakota. A finger of this dense smoke curls to the southeast and drops into northeast Wyoming. Most of this dense smoke is lofted well above ground level. The most active fires that are producing the most dense smoke are seen in Idaho, Valley and Boise counties in Idaho and in Flathead, Lewis and Clark, Pondera and Teton counties in Montana. A narrow ribbon of light to moderately dense smoke extends across southern North Dakota through central and southeast Minnesota and into northern Illinois. Additional fires in southeast British Columbia are producing narrow plumes of moderate to locally dense smoke that is drifting to the northeast into central Alberta. California: Locally dense smoke from the fire complex in western Siskiyou county in northern California covers much of the western portion of the county and is just spilling into northern Trinity county. Light smoke has now spread into Modoc county and into much of south central Oregon. The long running blaze in central Santa Barbara county has produced a broad area of dense smoke that extends into Kings and Tulare counties to the north and to Ventura county to the east. Light to moderate smoke then continues further north across the entire Sierra Nevada range and into eastern Oregon. The smoke has also spread south over the eastern Channel Islands. A short lived puff of smoke from a blaze in western Riverside county produced mainly light smoke that is drifting to the east across Riverside. Western Great Lakes and Ohio Valley: Residual smoke from fires in northern Canada as well as numerous fires in northwest Minnesota is seen over eastern Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula and western Michigan, eastern Lake Superior and most of Lake Michigan. The smoke is mainly thin. Another area of smoke extended across much of Pennsylvania and Ohio before curving to the southwest across central Kentucky and into western Tennessee. The likely origin of this smoke was from the northern Canada fires several days ago. Northwest Canada: A few fires were observed over the northern Yukon and western Northwest Territory west of Great Bear Lake. They were producing moderate to dense smoke that is now drifting to the east. Ruminski