DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 19, 2011
Northwest Territories/Alberta/Central and Northeastern Canada: A very large area of smoke can be see stretching from the Northwest Territories near the Alaskan border eastward through central Canada and into western Quebec. Heavy smoke can be seen through northern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan from the wildfires that are continuing to burn through north-central Alberta. Fires from the many agricultural burns going through central Canada and the north-central US are also adding to the large area of remnant smoke that can be seen in today's imagery. British Columbia/West coast of US: A large and elongated band of mostly light smoke can be seen stretching from central British Columbia southward through Washington, Oregon, California and into southern/central Arizona. A more moderately dense band of smoke can be seen through central Washington/Oregon. This originated from the wildfires currently burning through northern Alberta that has gotten wrapped around an upper-level low in the Northwest Territories and was pushed southward and now eastward along and into the western coast of the US. Northern Mexico/Texas: Hundreds of fires continue to burn across portions of northern Mexico through southern/central Chihuahua and into Sinaloa and Durango today. This is creating a large area of light smoke with embedded moderately dense smoke across this region from northern Mexico into central/southern Texas. Gulf of Mexico: A large area of light to moderate smoke can be seen moving northward through the western and southern Gulf of Mexico in this morning's satellite imagery. This is from the numerous fires burning through southern Mexico and Central America. Belge 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