TUESDAY MAY 12, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z MAY 12, 2009


Southeast Canada/Northern 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 today moving
eastward across the region. An embedded area of moderate density smoke
was seen this morning but seems to have thinned out during the day. As
of this evening, the remnant thin smoke stretched from southern Hudson
Bay southward across southeast Ontario and southwest Quebec. A separate
area of light remnant smoke was visible across the northern part of
lower Michigan, northern Lake Michigan, and northern Lake Huron.

Gulf of Mexico/East Texas:
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. As of 0015Z, the smoke had expanded northward to
28N/94W with an area of moderately dense smoke between latitude 23N and
27N. A small area of thin remnant smoke was also seen over east Texas
lifting northward and is presumed to be a broken off area of the Gulf
of Mexico smoke.

Mid-Atlantic coast:
Light remnant smoke was seen off the coast of Maryland, Delaware, and New
Jersey this morning into midday. This smoke may have originated from the
many agricultural fires over the northern Plains or south central Canada
in the past few days with northwesterly flow carrying the remnant smoke
southeastward from the Great Lakes region, where an area of light smoke
had been seen yesterday.

Four Corners Region:
A large area of blowing dust was seen this evening originating from
northeast Arizona along the border of Coconino and Navajo counties. The
blowing dust extended northeastward across northwest New Mexico, extreme
southeast Utah, and into southeast and south central Colorado.

Idaho/Wyoming:
Several moderately dense smoke plumes from active fires in eastern Idaho
were seen extending 100-150 miles northeastward into northwest Wyoming
across Yellowstone National Park this evening. Strong surface winds of
30-35 knots were helping to quickly spread the smoke to the northeast.

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













 


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.