DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z October 13, 2006
Southeastern US: Fires were widely scattered across the southeastern states with some relatively thin to locally moderately dense smoke plumes visible moving mainly in an eastward direction especially with fires located in far eastern Alabama, across Georgia, and also over far eastern North Carolina. Cloudiness covered a portion of the Southeast hindering smoke detection. The most significant smoke plume in the region was a moderately dense to locally dense narrow plume which moved in a southeastward direction over the Gulf of Mexico from a fire located in Baldwin County of far southwestern Alabama. Arizona: Fires which were also visible yesterday continued to burn in Yavapai and Coconino Counties of central Arizona. The fire in southern Coconino was by far responsible for the most significant smoke with moderately dense to even localized dense smoke moving primarily in a northeastward direction, but also fanning out to the south as well late in the afternoon. California: A large mass of moderately dense to very dense continues to be emitted by the fires in Trinity and Siskiyou Counties of northern California which was moving in a westward direction and out over the Pacific. Much thinner areas of smoke were visible moving west from fires in Lasssen and Modoc Counties of northeastern California as well as from a fire located north of Lake Tahoe near the California-Nevada border. Numerous small fires in the Sacramento Valley including the counties of Butte, Sutter, Colusa, and Glenn were producing rather short duration relatively small puffs of smoke which moved quickly southward toward Sacramento. Oregon/Washington/Idaho/Western Montana: Many fires were detected scattered around this region this afternoon with more than 40 smoke plumes or areas of smoke observed in visible satellite imagery due to the nearly cloudless skies. JS