DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 24, 2011
Arizona/New Mexico: Moderately dense to locally dense smoke from the continuing Miller (southwest New Mexico) and Horseshoe 2 (southeast Arizona) fires was seen extending from the fires to the northeast across much of southwest into central New Mexico. Northeast Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/South Central US/Tennessee Valley: An large mass of primarily smoke continues to cover much of northeast Mexico and the western Gulf of Mexico, extending northward over nearly all but far west Texas and into eastern and central Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, southern Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana and across the northern tier of Alabama and Mississippi and much of Tennessee. Embedded moderately dense to even dense smoke is present over the western Gulf of Mexico and portions of eastern and central Texas. This huge area of smoke was mainly from seasonal fires over northern Mexico, the Yucatan and Central America. Southeast US: A broad area of light smoke was seen over the northeast Gulf of Mexico and covering much of Florida and eastern Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina extending off the coast. There was an embedded plume of moderately dense smoke from the Pains Bay fire in eastern North Carolina that extended to the northeast off the Delmarva. Northwest Mexico: Numerous fires continue to burn over southern Chihuahua and northern Durango states with a broad area of moderately dense to locally dense smoke mainly confined to these states. Northern Canada: An area of dense smoke continues to originate from the large wildfires in northeast Alberta. The most recent smoke was moving to the southwest into west central Alberta and northeast British Columbia. A larger area of light remnant smoke was seen over much of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta into western Northwest Territories and eastern Yukon into the Arctic Ocean. Alaska: A fire between Healy and Nenana just north of the Alaska Range had a plume of light to moderately dense smoke lifting to the north. BLOWING DUST IN THE SOUTHWEST: A general area of blowing dust was seen over much of Arizona, southern California into the northern Gulf of California and also getting kicked up from the open fields of eastern New Mexico into west Texas. Most of this was light density, although there were some areas of moderately dense blowing dust over the northern Gulf of California being generated from the sandy surfaces adjacent to the Gulf. California: An area of aerosol of unknown type and origin was seen over much of the central valley of California. Naval Research Lab aerosol forecasts suggest this may be long range transport of blowing dust from Asia. Ruminski/Ramirez THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE 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 ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov