DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700 UTC July 31, 2007
West-central U.S, central U.S. and south-central Canada: A very large area of moderate to dense with some very dense smoke covers most of Montana, central and eastern Wyoming, central and eastern Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Minnesota, southeastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and Ontario. At 17 UTC, the densest smoke was in a 100 km wide line from north central Colorado, through eastern Wyoming, western North Dakota and over Lake Winnipeg. The smoke came from the fires in Idaho, western Montana and southeastern British Columbia. This morning, plumes from individual fires in western Montana can already be seen. The smoke is moving eastward. California: Moderate to dense smoke from the central Santa Barbara County fire is covering much of eastern Santa Barbara County. The smoke extends both northeastward and southward from the fire. Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland: A mix of light smoke and haze covers much of central and southern Maryland, eastern and southern Kentucky, eastern West Virginia and western Virginia. Northwest Territories: Cloud cover limits smoke detection but an area of moderate smoke or smoke mixed with haze can be seen moving from southeast of Great Bear Lake toward Great Slave Lake. Presumably this smoke is a residual from previous days fires in western Northwest Territories and east central Alaska.