DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z August 31, 2005
NOTICE...Local satellite outage between 22Z and 01Z has prevented a complete smoke analysis. Only had a very brief view of smoke in the far western U.S. just prior to sunset with GOES-10 imagery after outage ended. Central Canada/North Central U.S.: A very large mass of detatched smoke was visible earlier this morning across central and eastern Canada. This smoke was likely due to a combination of the fires in Alaska as well as the fires and blowing dust observed last evening across Nevada, Idaho, and western Montana. The large area of smoke covered Hudson Bay as well as northern Quebec, northern Ontario, much of Manitoba, and Nanavut Provinces. It extended southward to near the border with northwestern Minnesota. Smoke continues to be entrained into circulation around upper low still present just south of Hudson Bay. Alaska: Fires continue to burn mainly over eastern Alaska with some locally dense smoke visible across Yukon-Koyukuk County. However, extensive cloudiness is preventing the detection of additional areas of smoke which are likely still present over a wider area. Western U.S./Great Plains: Morning visible imagery showed an area of smoke moving northeastward into northern and eastern Montana, portions of the Dakotas, central Nebraska, and also into Saskatchewan Province of Canada. This smoke is actually a combination of smoke and blowing dust from fires burning across northern and central Nevada, southern and central Idaho, and western Montana, and blowing dust primarily from west central and northwestern Nevada. JS