DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0202Z May 22, 2010

Northern US Plains/South Central Canada:
A plume of mostly thin smoke covered a large portion of the Northern
and Central Plains extending from northwest Missouri north through the
Dakotas and into southern Manitoba and southwest Ontario.  The source
of this smoke is believed to be the large number of agricultural fires
over the Northern Plains and south central Canada.  The smoke seen
earlier today over the southeastern Canada and the Northeastern US was
not evident on satellite imagery this evening.

Southwest US/Great Basin:
Several areas of blowing dust were observed originating over the Four
Corners region of Arizona and New Mexico.  Additionally, an area of
blowing dust was also observed over western Nevada.

Southcentral US:
A thin area of smoke was analyzed from the Big Bend region of Texas
through western Texas/eastern New Mexico and into eastern Colorado and
western Kansas.  The source of this smoke is believed to be the large
number of agricultural fires over Mexico and also the persistent fire
over southeastern New Mexico.

Western Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana/Texas/Arkansas:
An area of aerosols believed to be remnant smoke continued to be over
portions of the western Gulf of Mexico and across the eastern half
of Texas, northwest Louisiana, and southwest Arkansas and western
Oklahoma. Moderately dense smoke was present in the Bay of Campeche as
well. Fires in Mexico and Central America are likely the main contributors
to all of this remnant smoke.

Alaska:
An area of moderate density smoke was observed over central Alaska
associated with the Toklat fire.

Hanna

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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.