DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z December 6, 2009

Southwestern Utah:
Blowing dust from a point source in south central Millard County of west
central Utah was observed in satellite imagery moving to the south into
southwestern Utah.

Western Nevada:
A streak of blowing dust from a source in central Esmeralda County of
west central Nevada was spreading in a southeasterly direction.

Central and Southern California:
More blowing dust emanating from sources in northern Inyo County of
east central California were moving to the southeast. Another plume of
blowing dust was visible moving to the northeast from a dry lake bed
in northwestern San Bernardino County of southern California. Also, a
large patch of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was observed in
GOES-East imagery with the favorable low sun angle just prior to sunset
across a good portion of central and south central California. The
aerosol was particularly concentrated in the valley region to the wast
of the Sierra-Nevada range.

South Central Canada:
A large black smoke plume was visible moving to the southwest from a
fire burning near the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces in
south central Canada. News stories indicate this plume is the result of
a propane explosion and fire from a train derailment.

JS

For graphical information on the smoke plumes and associated fires which
were detected, please refer to the links below.

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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.