DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z July 9, 2009
Alaska/NW Canada: Smoke covers much Alaska south of the Brooks range and east of a line roughly from McGrath to Galena with large areas of dense smoke. The smoke also extends south into the northern Gulf of Alaska between Kodiak Island and Sitka and southeast into the southern Yukon and northern British Columbia. California to Wyoming: A thin ribbon of likely sulfur dioxide (SO2) was seen this prior to sunset extending from the San Francisco Bay area northeastward across Lake Tahoe, to the northeast corner of Nevada, the northern portion of the Great Salt Lake and into north central Wyoming. Southern California to southwest Arizona: A mix of smoke from numerous fires in the agricultural area south of the Salton Sea and blowing dust was moving to the northeast into southwest Arizona. Quebec: An area of thin aerosol, believed to be SO2, covered the area on the southeast shore of Hudson Bay and James Bay and then curling to the southeast to near Montreal. Ruminski More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others can be found at the locations listed below. THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov