DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 10, 2015
SMOKE Pacific Northwest/Western Canada: An elongated stream of aerosols was detected from the Northwest Territories to southern Oregon. The band of aerosols can be seen moving to the south from the central portions of the Northwestern Territories through Alberta, SE British Columbia, W Montana, Idaho and S Oregon. The primary composition of the aerosol is suspected to be elevated remnant smoke from Asia as well as light density smoke from yesterdays wildfires in north-central British Columbia. A smaller area of optically thin smoke from today's fires in British Columbia was seen trailing the elevated aerosols in SW Northwestern Territories and NW Alberta. Saskatchewan/Manitoba: Numerous agricultural/prescribed burns were seen in southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba. Multiple light density smoke plumes associated with the fires were moving to the northeast. DUST Texas: An area of light density blowing dust oriented SW to NE was observed from the corner of southeast New Mexico to the Texas/Oklahoma border this afternoon/evening. Southwesterly surface winds increased to 20-25 knots over central Texas which displaced dry topsoil and transported it to the northeast. -Cronin 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