DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z JULY 27, 2008

California fires:
Moderately dense to dense smoke covers much of northern California as
wildfires continue to burn and emit smoke. Moderately dense smoke from
these fires also cover southeastern Oregon, western Nevada, and southern
Idaho. The moderately dense smoke in western Nevada is caused by the
fire in Mariposa County, in central California, which started burning
in earnest last evening. In addition, light smoke is found in Montana,
northern Wyoming, and extends east into the Dakotas.

Canadian fires:
Moderately dense to dense smoke from fires surrounding Great Slave Lake
continues to extend to the northwest, but also extends to the southeast
along a trough.  The smoke around Great Slave Lake mixes in with the
moderately dense to dense smoke from fires near Lake Athabasca, however,
due to extensive cloud cover, the smoke is harder to depict. Smoke
from all the fires in northern Saskatchewan and in the southern
region of the Northwest Territories has moved southeast, into southern
Manitoba and even further south to the Great Lakes region of the United
States. Specifically, the lighter smoke is found in northern Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan, and northern Ohio.


RCE

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.