DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z May 28, 2011
West/Northwest Canada: Remnant smoke from the wildfires burning in northeast Alberta stretched from central Saskatchewan across Alberta, British Columbia, and into the southern Yukon Territory this evening. Across central and northeastern Alberta the smoke was moderately dense to very dense. Eastern Canada: Two strands of thin remnant smoke from the fires in Alberta were seen south of Hudson's Bay in Ontario and Quebec. In addition along the coast of Labrador and over the Labrador Sea, SO2 from the Grimmsvoten Volcano in Iceland could be seen drifing eastward. East US Coast: An area of remnant light to moderate density smoke remains off the east coast from North Carolina to Maine. Northern Mexico/Southern Plains/Western Gulf of Mexico: A large area of remnant smoke of which some was moderate density became apparent across northeast Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, western Louisiana, Arkansas, and into parts of Missouri/Kansas this evening. The majority of this remnant smoke has come from the fires in northwestern Mexico. It is believed that some airborne dust may also be mixed in with the smoke. The smoke in the western Gulf of Mexico continued to stream northward from the Yucatan. Eastern Gulf of Mexico/Southeast: Thin remnant smoke covered much of the northeast Gulf of Mexico and parts of several Southeast states. The Race Pond fire in southeast Georgia along with other fires in the Southeast, along the Lower Mississippi River Valley, and in Mexico were the probable sources for this smoke. Western US: A long thin aerosol plume that is believed to be composed of dust from Asia can be seen this evening stretching from just off the north California coast eastward across south Oregon/north Nevada, south Idaho, north Wyoming, and southern South Dakota. New Mexico: Blowing sand/dust can be seen this evening originating from White Sands, NM moving to the northeast. Sheffler 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