DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z August 26, 2006
Washington/Oregon: The large fires in Okanogan County of Washington are still emitting large quantities of smoke. Analysis of visible satellite imagery this morning shows the most dense smoke confined to north central Washington while somewhat thinner smoke has spread southwestward across western Washington (just east of Seattle) and over western Oregon (including Portland) to southwestern Oregon (just west of Medford). Oregon/Idaho/Nevada/Utah/Wyoming: Circulation around a large low pressure system located near the border region of Idaho/Wyoming/Utah has wrapped at least some of the smoke produced by the western US fires southeastward over eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern and eastern Nevada, then eastward across northern Utah to southern Wyoming. However, cloudiness and the very thin nature of the smoke is making detection difficult especially over Utah and Wyoming. Large area from Eastern Washington to the Upper Mississippi Valley: A large swath of mainly thin to possibly locally moderately dense smoke was visible extending from eastern Washington across the Idaho panhandle and much of Montana to the Northern Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley including the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, and northern Nebraska. It is possibly that the smoke also covers a larger area than this especially on the southern and eastern portions of the area but widespread cloudiness is preventing additional detection. California/Nevada: Fires in Siskiyou and Trinity counties in California continued to produce locally dense smoke traveling westward during the morning hours, which has covered the whole northwestern corner of California. JS