DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z August 3, 2012

Idaho through Northern US/Great Lakes:
A large area of remnant smoke is seen this morning and early afternoon
stretching across the entire northern US from central Idaho eastward to
Wyoming/Dakotas and then into western and central Great Lakes. Most of
this area is of moderate density and the majority of this remnant smoke
seems to be coming from the Halstead fire burning in central Idaho as
well as the several large fires burning through southeastern Montana.

California/Nevada/Utah:
An elongated ribbon of remnant smoke can be seem from northern California
through north/central Nevada and into parts of central Utah. This smoke
is leftover from the large Chips fire in north/central California. The
heaviest leftover smoke from this fire can be seen rapidly moving
eastward through portions of central/eastern Utah and into western
Colorado this morning.

Northwest Territories/Nunavut:
Two areas of thin remnant smoke can be seen though northwestern Nunavut
and eastern portions of the Northwest Territories. Numerous, large fires
continue to burn through the Northwest Territories just south of Great
Bear Lake. Due to the extensive cloudiness in this region, it is possible
that the entire area of remnant smoke could not be seen.

Central Texas:
An area of what appears to be an unknown aerosol can be seem moving
towards the northwest through central Texas early today. This could be
an area of haze mixed with a small amount of smoke due to the handle of
fires in the region yesterday.


-Belge

THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT
AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME
DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE
FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST
ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF
THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO
THE SOURCE FIRE 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
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT 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.