DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z JULY 28, 2008
California fires: Moderately dense to dense smoke covers much of northern California as wildfires continue to burn and emit smoke. Moderately dense smoke from these fires also cover southeastern Oregon, western Nevada, and southwestern Idaho. The moderately dense smoke in western Nevada is caused by the fire in Mariposa County, in central California, which started burning in earnest last evening. The source, which is found near Yosemite National Park, is currently emitting dense smoke, moving off to the north. In addition, light smoke from all the fires in California is found in Idaho, Montana, northern Wyoming, and the Dakotas. Montana: A dense smoke plume in the south-central region of the state, in Carbon County, is racing off to the east. Light to moderately dense smoke extends as far east as western South Dakota from this plume. Wyoming: In Park County, near Yellowstone National Park, a moderately dense smoke plume is moving to the east and extends out at least 100km from the source. Canadian fires: Moderately dense to dense smoke from fires surrounding Great Slave Lake continues to extend to the northwest, but also extends to the southeast along a trough. The smoke around Great Slave Lake mixes in with moderately dense to dense smoke from fires near Lake Athabasca, however, due to extensive cloud cover, the smoke is hard to depict. Smoke from all the fires in northern Saskatchewan and in the southern region of the Northwest Territories continues to move southeast into southern Manitoba, and even further south to southern Ontario and the Great Lakes region of the United States. Specifically, the lighter smoke is found in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, northern Ohio, and western New York state. RCE