DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z MAY 5, 2009
South Central Canada: Remnant thin smoke from yesterday's fires in southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba was seen drifting eastward across western Ontario. Gulf of Mexico: A broad area of thin to moderately dense smoke continues to cover much of the western Gulf of Mexico emanating from the large number of seasonal fires burning in southeastern Mexico and Central America. Smoke is stretching northwards to the western Gulf of Mexico where it is accumulating along a frontal boundary. Smoke then extends northeastward along this frontal boundary into southeast Louisiana. The most dense smoke was observed near 21N/94W. Alaska: An small area of thin detached smoke was observed over east central Alaska, northeast of Fairbanks. This smoke may be from the large fire southeast of Fairbanks. -Sheffler 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.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/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