DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z May 22, 2006.
Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico: Numerous fires across southeastern Mexico and up through the Yucatan Peninsula have produced a large area of smoke/haze over the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico which has slowly spread northward and into the coastal areas of southern and southeastern Texas as well as southern Louisiana. Florida: A fire in Brevard county in east central Florida has been producing light to moderate smoke all day that has been moving eastward out over the Atlantic Ocean. Lower Mississippi Valley/Texas/Oklahoma: Several fires in far southern Mississippi are all producing smoke that is merging together and moving northward to form a moderately dense area of smoke. Many fires throughout the rest of the region are producing narrow, light plumes of smoke. These fires are mainly located in northern Texas, Southeastern Oklahoma, and southern Louisiana. North Dakota/Canada: Several fires are producing light smoke plumes that are moving in a northward direction. Clouds across the area may be obscuring additional smoke detection. New Mexico/Colorado: A wildfire that has been burning on and off the past few days on the border of Sandoval and Santa Fe counties in northcentral New Mexico is producing a moderately dense plume of smoke that is moving north into southern Colorado. There are also a few scattered fires that are producing smoke in northern New Mexico, and northwestern Colorado. Canada: Early evening visible imagery showed a large hazy area across southern and central portions of Alberta and Saskatchewan Provinces of western Canada. The source for this haze is unknown although it may be blowing dust which could have come from the dry plains to the east of the Canadian Rockies. Farther to the east a swath with a hazy appearance extends from Hudson Bay southward across Ontario Province toward the northern fringes of Lake Superior. As with the area over western Canada, the source region for this haze is unknown. It is not out of the question that it is leftover smoke from the large fire burning earlier this week southeast of Hudson Bay over Quebec Province. The smoke may have been entrained into the circulation of a large low pressure system which moved westward over Quebec Province and wrapped back around the western side of this low. Banks/Simko