DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1715Z June 6, 2009

Western Canada:
A large area of thin smoke covered western Canada this morning extending
from the Northwest Territories and the Yukon southward across Alberta and
British Columbia with some smoke extending out across the Pacific Ocean to
the northwest of Vancouver Island. Small areas of moderately dense smoke
also existed within the larger area of thin smoke, most notably just off
the west coast of British Columbia. This smoke, which probably came from
fires in Alaska and northwest Canada, was being pulled southward by the
large scale upper level trough currently in place across the western US.

Alaska:
Thin to moderately dense smoke was seen this morning over eastern Alaska
along a frontal boundary. This remnant smoke is likely from the several
large fires currently burning across the state.

South central Canada to Great Lakes region to east Canada:
Thin to moderately dense remnant smoke was seen spread along the flow
pattern through the base of an upper level trough over southeast Canada
this morning. This smoke may have originated in northwest Canada and
Alaska, with added contribution from smoke producing fires in North Dakota
and south central Canada over the past few days. The smoke spread from
southern Manitoba to Lake Superior and also from Lake Erie northeast to
Quebec and Newfoundland.

-Sheffler


THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov

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.