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

Unless otherwise indicated:

Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.

Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.

A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.

Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.