Saturday August 18, 2007

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1445Z UTC August 18, 2007


California/Nevada:
The large Zaca fire in Santa Barbara County in southern California
continues to produce extensive smoke over the Southwest. Very dense
smoke extended to the northeast across the southern Sierra Mountains
and spreads out to cover much of central Nevada.

Southwestern Canada/Northwestern United States/Northern Plains:
Numerous persistent fires in the Northwest United States and southern
British Columbia are producing smoke which covers northern Idaho and
also north and western Montana.  This smoke extends over southern
Alberta and Saskatchewan before stretching eastward through southern
Manitoba and western Ontario province of Canada.  In addition, a band of
smoke stretches from northern British Columbia and southern Northwest
Territories, southwestward through Alberta and Saskatchewan where it
meets with the aforementioned area of smoke.  Wow.

East of the Mississippi Valley and the Southeastern United States:
A combination of thin smoke and haze covers much of the non-weather
cloud region of the Midwest and central/southern Atlantic coastal plain,
including the area from Illinois/Indiana through the Ohio Valley and
central Appalachian Mountains, to southern Virginia and North Carolina.
Another wide band of similar haze stretches along the tail-end of a
frontal boundary from coastal South Carolina, through southern Georgia
and northern Florida.

Baldwin

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.