DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z June 3, 2010
Currently: Alaska/Most of Canada to about western Quebec: Wildfires continue to burn across Alaska and the Yukon Territory emitting a large area of moderately dense to dense smoke north into the Beaufort Sea. An undetermined aerosol most likely light residual smoke is moving south across the Chukchi Sea and western Alaska. The smoke over western/central Canada has now moved into Ontario and far western sections of Quebec. An area of moderately dense to dense smoke stretches across northern/central Ontario, southern Hudson Bay, St. James Bay and into western Quebec. The smoke may spread farther but cloud cover is blocking the full view of smoke. Southern/Central Saskatchewan/Southern Manitoba: Numerous fires burning across parts of this region are contributing to the overall smoke across Central Canada. These fires are producing light smoke that is moving north into the larger area of smoke from the Alaskan and Western Canada wildfires. Gulf of Mexico/southeastern Texas: An area of light to small pockets of moderately dense smoke is spreading north from Mexico, reaching the eastern coast of Texas and nearing the coast of Louisiana and across most of the Western Gulf of Mexico. Smoke spreading north from the Yucatan Peninsula has moved into sections of south central/eastern sections of the Gulf of Mexico and nearing south Florida and western Cuba. Across the north central/eastern sections of the Gulf of Mexico an area of aerosols can be seen, but the source is undetermined. Earlier Today: Alaska/Western and Central Canada: A very large mass of aerosol which is likely mainly composed of smoke from ongoing fires in Alaska and far western Canada was visible this morning covering northeastern Alaska as well as a large portion of western and central Canada from Yukon Province to Hudson Bay. The smoke was of at least moderate density across much of northeastern Alaska and also closer to some of the fires in western Canada. Southeastern Canada/Northeastern US/Northwestern Atlantic: Widespread cloudiness was present this morning over the large fires which had been burning for days in southeastern Quebec Province of southeastern Canada. This greatly hindered smoke detection in satellite imagery in areas of far southeastern Canada, Maine, and the nearby offshore waters. Some old leftover smoke was visible much farther out over the Atlantic, but was too far to the east to be included in the graphics on the web sites listed below. South Central US/Southeastern US/Middle Atlantic Region: A large batch of aerosol was visible this morning covering much of the South Central US, the Southeastern US, and the Middle Atlantic Region. It is possible that some of the remnant smoke from the seasonal fires burning in Mexico and Central America was present especially in the South Central US, but the actual contribution is unknown. Also, some of the leftover smoke from the fires burning in Quebec Province of southeastern Canada may be contributing to the aerosol seen along and off the Middle Atlantic Region. J Kibler 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