DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z MAY 20, 2020
SMOKE: North Central U.S./South Central Canada… The ongoing wildfire in central Saskatchewan was still emitting visible smoke with a narrow band extending to the northeast to at least as far east as northeastern Manitoba. However, cloud cover in the region is limiting additional information on the extent and density of the smoke from satellite imagery. Additional relatively smaller smoke plumes were also seen farther to the south over southern Manitoba with fire activity there. Southeastern Canada/Northeastern U.S… A patch of thin density remnant smoke leftover from the fires in South Central Canada was seen this morning moving to the southeast across southeastern Quebec, New Brunswick, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Southern Texas/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America/Pacific south of Mexico and Central America… The large amount of seasonal burning occurring in portions of Mexico and Central America was responsible for a large area of varying density smoke which covered central, southern, and eastern Mexico, a portion of Central America, the Bay of Campeche, the western Gulf of Mexico, southern Texas, and the Pacific south of Central America and Mexico. Within this large mass of smoke were areas of thicker smoke with moderately dense smoke visible along eastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico as well as over southern Mexico and the nearby Pacific. Smaller areas of dense smoke were seen in southern Mexico and just off the coast of southern Mexico. JS 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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/ KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire) http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke) ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov