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