DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z October 04, 2007
Kentucky: Satellite data during the morning indicated fires still present across eastern Kentucky but widespread cloudiness during most of the day prevented much in the way of smoke detection from visible satellite imagery. Southeastern US/Mississippi/Arkansas/Louisiana/Texas: Cloudiness across central and eastern Mississippi and the remainder of the Southeast to South Carolina and Georgia prevented any smoke detection in satellite imagery. Farther to the west, a significant number of fires were detected across eastern Mississippi, southeastern Arkansas, Louisiana, and southeastern Texas. More than 2 dozen of these fires were producing visible smoke plumes with the majority of the thin to locally moderately dense plumes moving in a southwesterly direction. A fire in southeastern Starr County of far southern Texas was producing a moderately dense smoke plume which fanned out to the east and west as it spread southwestward across the Rio Grande River. Farther to the northwest, a cluster of fires primarily in Castro and Lamb Counties of the northwestern Texas panhandle were emitting bursts of thin to moderately dense smoke at times which later consolidated into a larger batch of smoke which moved to the north-northeast across Amarillo during the late afternoon. Kansas: Fires scattered from southwestern to central and north central Kansas produced mostly short duration puffs of thin to moderately dense smoke which spread very rapidly off to the north, covering large distances during the afternoon and early evening. South Central Canada/North Dakota: Many fires were detected in satellite imagery through breaks in the clouds over North Dakota and the southern portions of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but very little smoke information could be obtained in satellite imagery due to the presence of cloudiness. A few smoke plumes could be seen moving to the northeast from fires in northeastern and southeastern North Dakota. Colorado: Late in the afternoon a narrow smoke plume was observed moving to the northeast from a fire in eastern Park County of central Colorado. The smoke plume passed less than 25 miles to the south of the Denver metro area. New Mexico: A fire in southern Lincoln County of south central New Mexico produced a thin to perhaps locally moderately dense smoke plume which moved to the east nearly reaching the TX-NM border. Utah: Fires in northeastern Washington County and southwestern Garfield County of southwestern Utah were responsible for thin to moderately dense smoke plumes which combined as they moved off to the northeast. California: A cluster of fires again in the Sacramento Valley to the north of Sacramento produced rather brief puffs of thin to moderately dense smoke which primarily moved to the north but also fanned out a bit to the east and west in the process. A fire in southern Sonoma County just north of San Pablo Bay produced a burst of moderately dense smoke which moved quickly to the east then northeast over Sacramento and into the Sacramento Valley. JS