DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 23, 2011
Texas/Oklahoma: Remnant smoke from the Miller (southwest New Mexico) and the Horseshoe 2 (southeast Arizona) fires was viewed over much of central Texas and southwestern Oklahoma this morning. This remnant smoke is moving to the east/northeast. Northern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/South Central US/Southeastern US: An extremely large mass of what is believed to be primarily smoke continues to cover northern Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Embedded moderately dense to even dense smoke is present over the western Gulf of Mexico, parallel to the Texas coast. This huge area of smoke was likely from a number of sources including seasonal fires over Mexico, particularly in Chihuahua and Durango states, and Central America as well as some contribution in the Southeastern US and over the southwestern Atlantic from fires in southeastern Georgia and eastern North Carolina. Alberta/British Columbia: Moderately dense to dense smoke continues to originate from point sources in northern Alberta, as a result of the ongoing wildfires. The smoke produced by these fires moved west throughout the morning hours and crossed into British Columbia. Northern Alberta/Northwest Territories/Arctic Ocean: An expansive area of light smoke, also originating from the Alberta fires, is stretching northwest into the western Northwest Territories and into the Arctic. Myrga/Ruminski/Ramirez 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