DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0045Z AUGUST 20, 2008

Mid-Atlantic:
A strip of thin to moderate smoke from fires in Canada over the past
week has reached the eastern US and coastal waters from the Delmarva and
coastal VA extending NE to around 40N67W.  The area is about 200km wide
from NW to SE ahead of an approaching front out of New England.

Southeast US:
A large area of summer haze with a possibility of light smoke embedded in
it can be seen stretching from the southern portion of the aforementioned
smoke (in the Mid-Atlantic section) across C NC, NW SC, N GA, N AL and
E TN.

A few fires across SE Rowan county NC produced a pocket of thin to
moderate smoke smoke that is moving S into extreme northern SC...but is
difficult to discern within the overall haze.

Midwest and Upper Mississippi/Mid-Missouri River Valleys:
A large area of summer haze with a good possibility of light smoke can
be seen from across MD, WV, OH, IN and expanding across all of WI, IL,
IA, MN, and eastern ND, SD and NE.

N MN:
A dozen fires across N MN in E Marshall, Roseau and Lake of the Woods
county are producing moderately dense smoke plumes that a moving north
to NNE across Lake of the Woods and extreme SE Manitoba. A particularly
dense plume can be seen along the southern shoreline of Lake of the Woods.

Canada:
A moderately dense area of smoke with lingering SO2 from volcanic
activity in Alaska can be seen across far NW Montana covering nearly all
of Saskatchewan as it is moving N to NNE. The plume, then, rounds the top
of the ridge north of the grand lakes of Manitoba but only as far north
as Nunavut, where it moves E into the western portions of Hudson Bay.
A small strip (50-75km wide) does extend south across central Ontario
to Georgian Bay, though is moving E.

NW US and Northern Rockies:
Thunderstorms and general cloudiness over much of the NW has lead to
minimal detection of smoke, though through breaks in the clouds smoke
plumes can be seen from the large fire complexes of NW CA, ID and NW WY.
Thin smoke from the WY fires can be seen moving NE into southern MT just
ahead of the cloud line.

Gallina

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.