DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z August 11, 2006.
Northern California/Oregon/Idaho/Montana/Dakotas: The most active fires this morning as far as smoke production is concerned were located in Trinity and Mendocino Counties of northern California along with Valley, Custer, Gem, and Elmore Counties of Idaho. Early morning visible imagery shows thin to perhaps moderately dense smoke spreading northward and northeastward from the northern California fires across southern Oregon and central Idaho. The smoke then combines with the smoke from the Idaho fires and extends farther to the northeast over Montana and south central Canada as well as the Dakotas. Within this region, a relatively more dense patch of smoke was observed moving from southeastern Montana into southwestern North Dakota and western and central South Dakota. Locally more dense smoke within 50 miles of the fires was observed with the fires in Valley and Custer counties of central Idaho as well as the Trinity and Mendocino County fires in northern California. Northern and Central Plains/Upper and Middle Mississippi Valley: Visible imagery indicated a swath of haze stretching southward from south central Canada across central and eastern North Dakota and Minnesota to far eastern Kansas, Missouri, and northern Illinois. It is likely that this haze is a combination of residual smoke from the western fires and other atmospheric pollutants. JS