DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z MAY 10, 2009
Western Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern Texas/Southern Louisiana: More thin to moderately dense smoke from the seasonal fires burning in southeastern Mexico and Central America moved northward across the Bay of Campeche and western Gulf of Mexico and into portions of southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. Eastern Gulf of Mexico: A patch of thin smoke, likely emanating from fires yesterday over Cuba, was observed spreading to the northwest over the east central Gulf of Mexico. South Central Canada/Northern Plains: The aerosol of unknown composition and origin could be seen again late this afternoon over southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba Provinces of southern Canada as well as portions of the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa. Mixed in with this unknown aerosol were a number of smoke plumes originating from seasonal fires burning in the region. The some plumes and the aerosol were moving to the south and southeast wrapping around low pressure located in western Minnesota. Southern California: The large wildfire near Santa Barbara was not nearly as visible this afternoon as it had been during the past couple of days. Smoke detection in satellite imagery was difficult due to the presence of low clouds along and off the coast of southern California. However, it did appear by late in the afternoon some of the residual smoke from this fire which had been offshore began moving inland over southern California and portions of northern Baja. JS 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