1996 Sep 13 01:23 UT

This image was aquired by NOAA 12 at 01:23 UT over the western U.S. This was an evening pass.
Map of the pass
Channel 3 view of the data Clouds are black over the center and eastern side. On the western side they are partially illuminated by the low sun.

Much of this pass was clouded. Several small fires in the northwest are not shown here.

Southern California

Color composite image using channels 1, 2, and 3. Much of this image has scattered clouds but two small smoke plumes are seen in the southern Sierra Nevadas. These may be identified by referring to the channel 3 image below.

AVHRR Channel 3.

The southern Sierra Nevada mountains are the dark band extending southeast from the top of the image just west of the California border. Near the southern end of these mountains are seen two bright spots which are the fires causing the smoke plumes seen in the color composite. These two fires are indicated by arrows on the channel 3 image of Nevada. Bright edges of clouds lit by the low evening sun should not be confused with fires in these views.

Northern Baja

AVHRR Channel 3. A probable fire is seen as a bright spot southeast of Tijuana, east of Ensenada. Another smaller fire might be visible farther to the southeast.

Southern Arizona

AVHRR Channel 3. A bright spot is seen near San Manuel in southern Arizona. This fire was mentioned (but not displayed) for the 1996 Sep 07 09:21 UT NOAA-14 night pass.

Nevada

AVHRR Channel 3. A fire is visible north of Eureka, NV.

Eastern Montana

AVHRR Channel 3. A fire is seen at the west end of Fort Peck Lake in central Montana. The scattered small bright spots near the top of this image are due to noise in the weak signal just before it was lost as the satellite went below the horizon as viewed from here (see pass map).