Monday July 7, 2008

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z JULY 8, 2008


Eastern North Carolina/Middle Atlantic Coast:
Thin to perhaps locally moderately dense smoke from the long burning
Evans Fire in eastern North Carolina was visible moving to the northeast
across the northeastern Outer Banks and offshore.

California:
Numerous fires in northern California were emitting moderately dense to
dense smoke which spread mainly in a south and southwestward direction
during the afternoon. However, some of the smoke from the fires in
northeastern California began to spread to the east-northeast as well
toward the northern and central Sierras (including the Lake Tahoe/Reno
area) during the late afternoon. The moderately dense to dense smoke
covered much of northern and central California and also extended
offshore.  Moderately dense to dense smoke from the fires in Monterey
County appeared to move more to the southwest and offshore during the day.
Smoke from the fires in Santa Barbara County was not nearly as visible in
satellite imagery as it had been in previous days.  It also was difficult
to see in the imagery due to low clouds along and off the coast and due
to more smoke moving in from the east from the large Kern County fire.
Of all the fires in California, the aformentioned Kern County fire
in south central California was emitting the largest smoke plume.
This very dense plume spread to the west during the day crossing over
Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

Pacific Northwest to the Northern Plains:
Leftover smoke primarily from the California fires was visible extending
from the Pacific Northwest across Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, to the
Dakotas and Minnesota. Within this large area, patches of moderately dense
smoke was seen with the thickest smoke located over eastern Oregon and
southwestern Idaho. It was not known what level in the atmosphere the
smoke existed. Some residual thin smoke was also visible over northern
Nevada and northern Utah as well as off the Pacific Northwest coast.

Central Canada:
Moderately dense to locally dense smoke from fire located near Lake
Athabasca in northwestern Saskatchewan Province was detected moving to
the west. Farther to the northwest, fires to the west of Great Slave
Lake were also producing moderately dense to locally dense smoke plumes
which were moving to the northwest. Large swaths of thin smoke which were
visible earlier this morning across south central and north central Canada
(likely due to the above mentioned Canadian fires) were no longer seen
this evening.

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
Several fires in east central Alaska were emitting moderately dense
to dense smoke which moved to the south. Earlier this morning a
larger mass of thin to moderately dense smoke was seen across much of
northeastern Alaska and extreme northwestern Canada extending northward
into the Arctic. To the west, a growing fire in west central Alaska was
responsible for a moderately dense to dense smoke plume which moved to
the north-northeast.

JS





 


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.