DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0130Z September 15, 2007
Idaho/Montana to the Central US and Great Lakes Region/Southeastern Canada: A very large region of smoke was observed originating from the wildfires in Idaho and western Montana and possibly also from the large north central Washington fire. The smoke extended eastward across Wyoming and then southeastward into the Central Plains and mid Mississippi Valley. The smoke then turned more to the northeast as it became entrained into a frontal system and covered the Ohio Valley along with the central and eastern Great Lakes region before spreading into southeastern Canada south of Hudson Bay. Early in the day the smoke was at least moderately dense and even locally dense along the frontal boundary which extended at that time from northern Missouri to Michigan. The smoke was also dense closer to the fire sources over central Idaho, western Montana, and northern Wyoming. Southern Canada/North Central US: A swath of very thin smoke from an unknown source moved south-southeastward across the south central Canadian provinces of Manitoba and southwestern Ontario into North Dakota during the morning and over South Dakota and Minnesota during the afternoon. It is possible (but definitely not certain) that the smoke was transported a very long distance from the large fires buring in north central Alaska. Also, several moderately dense to even locally dense smoke plumes were observed moving eastward across the southern portion of Manitoba Province in south central Canada. The fires were scattered around south central Canada and North Dakota, but particularly concentrated in southern Manitoba. Florida: Fires along the east coast of Florida just northwest of Cape Canaveral were emitting a plume of moderately dense to locally dense smoke which moved mainly to the northeast and out over the Atlantic Ocean. Southeastern Missouri/Western Tennessee: Numerous agricultural burns over southeastern Missouri were producing an area of thin smoke with embedded patches of moderately dense smoke which spread to the southeast into western Tennessee, just to the north and northeast of Memphis. Utah: Several fires were detected in Utah during the day, but widespread cloudiness hindered smoke detection from satellite imagery. One plume which did appear for a time extended to the northeast from a fire in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. The moderately dense to dense smoke plume moved across the Great Salt Lake and very close to Salt Lake City and Ogden. Nevada: A huge fire rapidly expanded during the afternoon in the Santa Rosa Range of the Humboldt National Forest in northern Nevada. The very dense smoke plume even exhibited convective characteristics at times resulting in a huge burst of smoke which spread northward and fanned out over southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho. California: A significant fire in southwestern San Bernardino County of southern California was responsible for a very long and somewhat narrow plume of moderately dense to dense smoke which moved to the northeast into southern Nevada, reaching just to the northwest of Las Vegas prior to sunset. A cluster of small fires just north of Yuba City in north central California produced small puffs of relatively thin smoke which spread to the north. Washington: Fires in Chelan County of north central Washington were producing eastward moving moderately dense to locally dense smoke plumes. The ongoing large fire in southwestern Ferry County produced dense smoke which moved to the south early in the day but began to shift to the north and east later in the day. Alaska: Clouds covered the active ongoing fires in north central Alaska so smoke detection was not possible. JS