DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z August 29, 2009
Canada: Large numbers of large fires across the southern half of BC have produced a large area of moderate to dense smoke that covers all of BC and Alberta with thin to moderately dense smoke creeping into SW Saskatchewan, though very dense smoke is covering the northern third of the providence. Some of this dense to moderately dense area is moving NE into the SE portions of the NW Territories. A sheen of very thin smoke can be seen only at the extreme sun angles from GOES-WEST very early in the morning across Hudson Bay extending S and SW around the large cyclone over the Great Lakes to affect the Ontario/Manitoba line to S Lake Winnepeg into the the Northern US along the Red River between ND and MN down to around Grand Forks. California: Smoke from Southern California fires (particularly the Station fire) covers a large portion of the state from Lake Tahoe SSE to the southern portion of Monterrey Bay and out to sea. Over the Channel islands thin smoke becomes moderately dense smoke due to additional contributions of smoke from yesterday's coastal fires in Baja California. This area is balled up but has a distinct back edge from Santa Barbara island norther to Oxnard, where it meets up with dense smoke from this morning's output over the mountains. Gallina 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