DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z August 14, 2009
Ohio Valley/Great Lakes/Mississippi Valley/Southern Ontario/Quebec: Earlier Today: A large area of light smoke is spreading east across the northern/central US and southern Canada. The smoke is as far south as northern Arkansas and reaches north into southern Quebec and central Ontario. Smoke source is most likely from wildfires in California. Currently: Smoke is very difficult to see in GOES-12 imagery as it has diffused. The smoke seen continues to move east into eastern Canada/US. California: Earlier Today: A fire burning in NW Santa Cruz county is emitting a large area of moderately dense to dense smoke SSW into the Pacific Ocean. The eastern edge of the smoke is passing through parts of western Monterey and northwest San Luis Obispo counties. The smoke has moved over 900 km from the fire source and most likely farther, but cloud cover blocks the view once reaching around 29N in the Pacific Ocean. Currently: Smoke continues to move in a SSW direction as seen earlier today. Earlier Today: The La Brea wildfire burning in Santa Barbara county continues to produce moderately dense to very dense smoke moving SSW across the Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands. The smoke can be seen as far south as 30N before cloud cover blocks the view (600 km from fire source). The smoke is combining with smoke from the Santa Cruz county fire over the Pacific. Smoke from the fire is also located in parts of central/southern California with a moderately dense to dense pocket located across Kern, Los Angles, Ventura and western San Bernardino counties. Currently: Dense to very dense smoke has continued to move into a large area of southern California with light to moderately dense moving into southern Nevada. Thin smoke has moved north into the central valley of California. Northwest California/Southwest Oregon: An area of light to moderately dense smoke has moved south from the Pacific Northwest/Pacific Ocean into the above mentioned region. The source of the smoke cannot be confirmed. J Kibler 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