DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THRU 0230Z JULY 26, 2005
Alaska/Yukon/British Columbia/Alberta/Saskatchewan: Scattered intense fires burning across west central to east central Alaska and Yukon Province of northwestern Canada are producing locally very thick smoke. The overall massive area of smoke has expanded and spread westward across Alaska to the Bering Strait and Kotzebue Sound, then northward over the Arctic Ocean. A portion of the smoke area on the eastern end has actually spread southeastward during the day into northern British Columbia Province. Even farther to the southeast patchy smoke was visible at times in cloud free areas moving slowly eastward across portions of Alberta and Saskatchewan Provinces. This smoke is also likely from the Alaska/NW Canadian fires. Ontario/Quebec: A few fires detected over southern and southeastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec Province were producing some smoke which had generally been moving eastward during the day. Some of the smoke may have grazed the northern sections of Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Western U.S.: A lot of cloudiness due primarily to monsoonal convection covered Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado making it difficult to detect any wildfires or smoke. Several fires were observed producing smoke plumes across portions of Washington, Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. The smoke plumes were spreading mostly to the south or southeast. Visible imagery also showed what appeared to be blowing dust coming from a source region in northeastern Owyhee County of SW Idaho. The apparent dust cloud was moving southeastward into northern Utah and closing in on the Salt Lake City region. JS