DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z May 7, 2013
Currently: Great Lakes: An area of unknown aerosols is visible in satellite imagery across Lake Superior and over southeast Ontario/southern Quebec, Canada. These unknown aerosols may have been composed partially of elevated dust and smoke from agricultural fires in southern Canada yesterday. Upper Mississippi Valley/Northern Plains/Southern Canada: Large number of fires burning across Minnesota, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba producing mostly light to moderate smoke. These fires are most likely agricultural or prescribed burns. Oegerle Earlier today: Gulf of Mexico: Thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen over much of Central America, the western Caribbean, the Mexican coastline, and reaching north to the extreme southern tip of Texas. Numerous ag fires burning in Central America the past few days are the cause of this remnant smoke. Another smaller area of aerosol determined to be thin remnant smoke could be seen moving southeast across the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. US East Coast: The upper low over the eastern US was drawing a thin/fine unknown aerosol from the eastern Gulf of Mexico across southern Florida/Bahamas and northward off the Southeast US before it wrapped inland across the Carolinas. This aerosol could be several day old smoke from Central America that has mixed with other aerosols. Southern and Central Plains/Inter-mountain West/Northwest US: An extensive area of unknown aerosol stretched from the East Pacific just off north California/southwest Oregon eastward across southern Idaho/Wyoming/northeast Colorado covering areas from southern South Dakota southward to northeast and east Texas/southwest Arkansas where it may have even stretched to the Gulf Coast and mixed with previously mentioned remnant smoke. While the composition of much of the aerosol plume is unknown, smoke from fires in north CA, OR, WA may have contributed to the aerosol mass further west and some dust may have been entrained across the High Plains/Inter-mountain West states. Southern Canada/North Central US/Great Lakes: Two separated areas of unknown aerosol were seen, one from east Minnesota/northwest Wisconsin across Lake Superior and over southeast Ontario/southern Quebec. The other was seen over southern Alberta/south Saskatchewan/south Manitoba/north Montana/northern North Dakota and may have been composed partially of elevated dust and smoke from ag fires in southern Canada yesterday. Sheffler THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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