DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z AUGUST 13, 2008
Northern California: The fires in northern California are still emitting moderately dense to dense smoke which is in the early morning moved radially out from all of the fires but has shifted to the east as evening sets. The lighter portions of the smoke appear to be moving south over much of central California. Oregon: In Marion County there are several fires which are producing light to moderately dense smoke which is moving to the east. There is a fire in central Lane County which is producing light smoke which is moving to the southeast extending over 50km. There are other fires in Hood River and Jefferson counties but the extent of the smoke cannot be determined due to cloud cover. Idaho: There are several fires in Idaho County which are emanating smoke which is traveling to the east crossing the Montana/Idaho border. Another fire in Elmore County is emitting light to moderately dense smoke which is moving to the east through Camas County and into Blaine County. Wyoming: The Gunbarrel Fire in Park County continues to emit moderately dense to dense smoke which fans off to the east over 200km and at its widest point is over 100km in width. Pacific Northwest: A band of haze can be seen extending from the Pacific Coast in southern Oregon, diagonally through Oregon, into central Idaho, northwestern Montana and into a low over southern Saskatchewan. Canada: A thin ribbon of haze can be seen extending from the northern tip of Quebec through the Hudson Bay and central Ontario before crossing into the United States via Lake Superior. Another wider ribbon can be seen to the west of this and it passes through eastern Nunavut, northern Manitoba where is enters Ontario and appears to join with the previously mentioned ribbon. Both of these are most likely remnant emissions from the Kasatochi eruption which are aloft (above 7km) and predominantly SO2. Another area which may be remnant emissions from Kasatochi can be seen extending from the northern shore of the Great Slave Lake down the border of British Columbia and Alberta and then gets pulled into the low over southern Saskatchewan. Northeast US: In the last visible images of the day, the area of haze which passed over Lake Superior as mentioned above can be seen over northeastern portions of the US. The haze moves through the Great Lakes and into western New York. The haze then passes through northern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island before moving over the Atlantic. There have been pilot reports of the smell of sulfur over RI which is indicative of areas of SO2. -Salemi