Sunday July 6, 2008

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0500Z JULY 7, 2008


St. Lawrence Valley:
Residual smoke from fires in Saskatchewan and Manitoba can be seen moving
east across southeast Quebec and into the mouth of the St Lawrence
river. There is a patch of moderately dense smoke from near Montreal
eastward to an area just north of Maine.

Western US:
Most of the western one-fourth of the US is now covered in smoke from
the California fires. Much of California is blanketed with recent smoke
from the past day or two while Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and
western Montana have had recirculated smoke from earlier in the week
spread inland from the Pacific in the past day.

Smoke from the numerous fires burning across California covers much
of northern and central California. The thickest smoke was seen
in northern and central California in the Sacramento Valley and the
western slopes of the Sierra Nevada across Tehama, Butte, Yuba, Nevada
and nearby counties. Areas of thick smoke also covered much of Trinity,
Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The smoke was drifting to the south
and had reached northern Fresno county. Much of the smoke from the fires
in Monterey and Santa Barbara counties has drifted south off the coast
although some thin smoke was still seen moving to the east into the San
Joaquin Valley. Dense smoke from the large fire in northeast Kern county
was drifting south toward Los Angeles county by sunset.

A large mass of moderately dense to dense smoke covered much of Washington
and northern Idaho with moderately dense smoke over much of western
Montana, southwest Idaho and Oregon. aerosol was seen over much of
Washington and Oregon having moved in from the Pacific.

South Central Canada/Northern Plains and Great Lakes region:
An area of thin smoke was seen across most of southern Saskatchewan and
southwest Manitoba. This area then extended south across the eastern
Dakotas, Iowa and into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, western Pennsylvania
and far western New York. This smoke is a combination of residual smoke
from the large numbers of fires in northern California and in northern
Saskatchewan.

Alaska and Northwestern Canada:
Two fires continue to burn in eastern Alaska. One fire was about 55 km
to the south-southeast of Fort Yukon and the other about 50 km to the
north of Fort Yukon. The smoke extends to the southwest across Tanana,
McGrath and Bethel into the eastern Bering Sea. The smoke is thick near
the source in the vicinity of Fort Yukon. Moderately dense smoke is seen
from near McGrath westward toward Bethel and the coast.

Ruminski




 


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.