Wednesday, June 20, 2007

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z June 21, 2007

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
A fire just north of Homer in south central Alaska was emitting a
very dense smoke plume which spread and fanned out in a southerly
direction as it moved across Kodiak Island and the Gulf of Alaska. Other
fires southeast of Fairbanks, near Circle Hot Springs, and along the
Alaskan/Canadian(Yukon Province) border in east central Alaska were
also producing dense smoke plumes which were moving generally in a
southwesterly direction. A larger mass of residual thin to locally
moderately dense smoke from all of these fires was visible across much
of south central and southeastern Alaska. Other significant smoke
producing fires were located in west central Yukon as well as east
central Yukon Province. These dense smoke plumes were also moving to
the southwest. Finally, a fire west of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest
Territories was responsible for a very large area of smoke of varying
density which appeared to spread out both to the west and to the east
as it moved to the south and southeast. The smoke likely reached the
northern portions of British Columbia and extended at least as far to
the southeast as Alberta Province.

Alberta/Saskatchewan/North Central Plains/Great Lakes Region:
Just prior to sunset with the favorable viewing angle, the large swath of
thin to moderately dense smoke continues to be seen stretching from the
fires just west of Lake Athabasca, southeastward through Saskatchewan,
central and southern Manitoba, southern Ontario, portions of North Dakota,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinios (including Chicago), Michigan,
and the western Great Lakes. The smoke is believed to be attributed not
only to the large fires west of Lake Athabasca, but also to some of the
fires farther to the west in Canada.

Quebec/Labrador/Maine:
Widespread cloudiness from a weather system prevented the detection of
many of the large fires which have been burning across Quebec during
the past several days. Only a few fires in eastern Quebec and Labrador
were detected. Residual thin to moderately dense smoke was observed in
a north-south elongated band extending from the Labrador Sea southward
across Labrador, eastern Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the
extreme eastern portion of Maine as well as off the northeast coast.

Colorado:
A large fire continues to burn in Garfield County of western
Colorado. Moderately dense to dense smoke was observed moving to the
northeast from this fire into north central Colorado.

Idaho:
A growing fire along the Cassia-Oneida County border in south central
Idaho was producing a very large moderately dense to dense smoke plume
which had extended all the way to northwestern Wyoming by sunset.
Arizona:
Smoke was visible at times moving mainly in a westerly and
northwesterly direction from a fire in Greenlee County of southeastern
Arizona. Cloudiness in the region though made it difficult to obtain
specific characteristics of the smoke but it was believed to be at least
moderately dense.

JS

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.