Thursday August 07, 2008

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z AUGUST 08, 2008

Southeast US:
An area of light to a few pockets of moderately dense (mixed in with
haze) smoke stretches along the southeast coast from central Florida to
northern North Carolina.  Smoke continues to push eastward and should be
totally off the coast by overnight.  The smoke source is mostly likely
from the western US wildfires.

Western US and Canada:
An area of light to moderately dense smoke spreads north from the northern
California wildfires into western/central Oregon and Washington states
into southern/central British Columbia, northern/central Alberta,
Northwest Saskatchewan and the southern sections of the Northwest
Territories.  A large section of moderately dense smoke spreads from
California to central British Columbia with light smoke over the western
section/Pacific Ocean region.  The smoke in Alberta, Saskatchewan and
the Northwest Territories is mostly light with some moderately dense
to dense pockets through this region.  The residual smoke in Canada is
combining with smoke from the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan and
Northwest Territories.  An area of dense smoke is near the source in
northern California.

Northern California:
A fire in the western sections of the Plumas National Forest (Butte
County) is producing an area of light to moderately dense smoke.
Moderately dense smoke spreads across western Butte and eastern Tehama
counties with light smoke over Plumas and Lassen counties.

Northern Rockies/Northern Plains/Southern Canada:
Light smoke spreads across sections of central and southeastern Montana
and is pushing eastward into southwest North Dakota and northwest
South Dakota.  A small area of this smoke is in southeast Alberta and
southwest Saskatchewan.

Minnesota:
Numerous fires in Roseau county are producing an area of moderately
dense to dense smoke pushing south into Marshall, Pennington and Beltrami
counties.
A fire in central Clay county is emitting a plume of smoke south into
Otter Tail and Wilkin counties.

Texas/New Mexico:
A fire in Williamson county is emitting a moderately dense plume of
smoke north into Coryell, Mclennan and Falls counties.

In the Texas Panhandle a fire in Parmer county is emitting a light plume
of smoke west into Curry and Roosevelt counties in New Mexico.

Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories/Alberta:
Wildfires just north/near Lake Athabasca and south/near Great Slave Lake
are producing moderately dense to dense amounts of smoke moving east to
northeast in direction.  The smoke is combining with the residual smoke
from the fires in northern California.

A fire in northwest Alberta is producing a moderately dense plume of
smoke north along the Alberta/British Columbia border.

JK



 


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.