DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z APRIL 27, 2008

Western Canada/Central and East Central US:
More possible smoke of thin density, likely from the large Russian fires
which have been ongoing for the past week or so, was visible in morning
GOES-West satellite imagery spreading southeastward from the western
Canadian provinces of The Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba to the south central and east central US.  In the US,
the smoke covered a large region from eastern Montana and the Dakotas
southward to eastern New Mexico, northern Texas, and Oklahoma. The smoke
also extended eastward over Minnesota and Iowa to at least as far east
as the Great Lakes region and the Ohio Valley. Some possible additional
smoke was visible in cloud free areas extending from the Ohio Valley to
the interior Northeast and southeastern Canada. However, this area is
only visible using GOES-East imagery and the optical sun viewing angle
is not favorable for detecting atmospheric pollutants in the morning
using GOES-East imagery.

Southern California:
Some localized smoke was observed over Los Angeles County close to the
wildfire burning over the central part of the county.

Gulf of Mexico:
Smoke from the seasonal fires burning across portions of Mexico
and Central America was visible this morning mainly in the Bay of
Campeche. Widespread cloudiness farther to the north in the western Gulf
of Mexico and across eastern Mexico, and southern and eastern Texas is
preventing the detection of any smoke which may be present in those areas.

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.