DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z MAY 12, 2009
Southeast Canada/Northen Great Lakes Region: A broad area of thin smoke from yesterdays fires in Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba was seen in GOES-11/12 visible satellite imagery this morning. The smoke appeared to extend from southwest Ontario eastward to southwest Quebec and from the southern part of Hudson Bay to the upper peninsula of Michigan and the northern parts of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. A small embedded area of moderate density smoke was seen over southeast Ontario. Gulf of Mexico: Thin to moderate density smoke extended northward across the western Gulf of Mexico this morning from fires in Mexico and Central America over the past few days. The smoke reached northward to 25N/95W as of 1730Z. 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