DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z August 05, 2009
Northwestern to Western Canada/Alaska: An expansive area of moderately dense to dense remnant smoke from wildfires in Alaska and the Yukon Territory covered most of northwest Canada including western Nunavut, western British Columbia, and eastern and northern Alaska. The smoke stretched well to the north of Canada/Alaska across the Beaufort Sea. Large areas of very dense smoke from active wildfires were present over the Yukon Territory this evening as well. Northern US/Southern Canada/Mid-Atlantic to Northeast US: A very large area of smoke stretched across the northern US and across southern Canada. Smoke from fires in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and British Columbia that had traveled south and eastward over the past few days was seen as far east as the Great Lakes and as far south as Missouri/Iowa. Some of this smoke was moderately dense to dense over south central Canada, the northern and central Plains, and the Midwest. A smaller plume of remnant smoke mixed with haze seen this morning from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast had moved eastward and stretched from North Carolina to southeast Canada this evening. North Central Canada: A plume of thin to moderately dense smoke was positioned over western Hudson Bay also covering northern Manitoba, part of the Northwest Territories, and southeast Nunavut. This smoke likely originated from the fires in the Yukon Territory and Alaska several days ago. Central Plains: Thin to moderately dense smoke was seen this evening moving to the south and southeast across Kansas and Oklahoma into north Texas. It is believed this smoke came from yesterday's fires in Utah and Colorado. Washington/Oregon/Idaho: Moderately dense to dense smoke was observed over northeast California and parts of Washington/Oregon and Idaho. While some of this smoke is leftover from yesterday's fires in Oregon, active fires in northeast California and western Oregon were producing thick smoke this evening that was traveling northward along the Cascade Range into western Washington. -Sheffler 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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