Friday, May 25, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1400Z May 25, 2012

Smoke:
US:
The Baldy/Whitewater fire continues to generate copious amounts of
dense smoke. The smoke from this fire now extends from New Mexico and
Chihuahua, Mexico through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and into Ohio.
The smoke varies from moderately dense to light through most of these
areas with the dense smoke plumes staying close to the source.

Canada:
Smoke from fires in southern Ontario and Quebec is now moving northeast
into Newfoundland.

Dust/Sand:

North-central US:
A wide ribbon of what is likely dust/sand can be seen extending
through central Nebraska, along the N/S Dakota border, into Minnesota
and Wisconsin.  The origin of this is attributed to blowing dust/sand
incidents in Arizona/Nevada in combination with transported dust/sand
from Siberia.  Due to the capacious amount of smoke emitted by the
Baldy/Whitewater fire, it is very probable smoke is also mixed within
this area.

Arizona:
A small area of what may be remnant blowing dust/sand or remnant smoke
is located in northeastern Arizona and is moving to the northeast.

-Salemi

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.