DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 04, 2015
Pacific Northwest/Northern Plains/South Central Canada: Two relatively large areas of thin remnant smoke are seen today over parts of the northwestern and north central US as well as south central Canada. In addition to the remnant smoke, which is likely from Asian fires, an extensive amount of Asian dust has mixed in after being transported across the Pacific over the northwest/north central US and southwest/south central Canada extending northeast across Lake Superior. Aerosol models were utilized to help determine which areas were more likely to be smoke than dust in the analysis. Northeast US/Canadian Maritimes/North Atlantic: An area of aerosol is seen this morning moving off the coast of the Northeastern US and southeast Canada. Much of the aerosol is believed to be elevated dust particles, possibly from Asia, but there may be some thin remnant smoke mixed in, particularly over and north of Nova Scotia. The source of any smoke is not clear though as it could be from Asian fires or it could be from agricultural burning recently in Southern Canada/Northern Central US. Arkansas/Missouri: A small area of thin remnant smoke is present over northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri, likely from local fires in this area or to the west yesterday. Gulf of Mexico: An area of thin smoke is seen over the western Gulf and Bay of Campeche today. The smoke is likely from agricultural burning in the Yucatan Peninsula and from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche. The smoke was moving west and northwest. 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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