DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z June 8, 2009
Western Canada/Alaska: Dense smoke continued to emanate and spread eastward from a large fire burning in the Yukon of northwestern Canada. Another very large fire complex in northern British Columbia was emitting dense smoke which moved mainly to the west. Earlier in the day, a large mass of smoke of varying density was visible in relatively cloud free areas covering northern and eastern Alaska and western Canada from Yukon to southern British Columbia province. Southwestern Canada/Washington: The large fire in southwestern British Columbia continued to emit dense smoke which moved mainly to the south during the afternoon toward Vancouver and the southern portion of Vancouver Island. Another area of possible smoke attributed to this fire was visible through breaks in the clouds covering eastern and southeastern Washington as well as northern and northeastern Oregon and south central Idaho. Cloudiness in the Pacific Northwest hindered additional information on the extent of the smoke. Because of the clouds, it is not known if the smoke is present in the Seattle or Portland metro areas. South Central Canada to the Great Lakes Region: Extensive cloudiness still prevented the detection of smoke in this region. It is not known if any residual detached smoke from the ongoing fires in Alaska and western Canada was present here, but satellite imagery from previous days did indicate the possible presence of smoke. Bay of Campeche: A rather extensive mass of smoke, likely originating from the gas fields in the southern Bay of Campeche, was observed this afternoon covering a good portion of the Bay of Campeche. JS 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