DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 17, 2007
Southeastern US/Southern US/Gulf of Mexico/East Coast/Western Atlantic: Erratic winds in the vicinity of the large southern Georgia/northern Florida fires caused the smoke in the vicinity of the fire to change directions during the day. The sea breeze moving inland during the afternoon helped to create a convergence zone which kept the moderately dense to dense smoke confined to an southwest to northeast elongated axis extending from the eastern Gulf of Mexico just east of Tampa to southern North Carolina. The most dense smoke within this region stretched from around Union/Bradford Counties of northeastern Florida to around Brantley County of southeastern Georgia. By late afternoon some of the moderately dense to locally dense smoke aloft had been blown to the east off the southeastern Georgia/northeastern Florida coast. Elsewhere, smoke of at least thin density was visible ahead of a frontal system being transported by southwesterly winds across much of the eastern US from the Carolinas to southern New England to off the Northeast coast. Finally, mainly thin smoke was evident across much of the Gulf of Mexico. Within this area, converging winds resulted in a moderately dense patch of smoke that extended from the west central Gulf of Mexico into portions of southern Louisiana. New Jersey to Southeastern New England: The huge fire burning around 25 miles to the north of Atlantic City, New Jersey close to the Pinelands National Reserve was emitting a long narrow plume of moderately dense to dense smoke which moved in a northeasterly direction during the afternoon. The densest portion of the plume appeared to brush the southern portion of Long Island and was headed in the general direction of the islands off the southeastern Massachusetts coast as well as Cape Cod before cloudiness obstructed satellite viewing of this smoke late in the afternoon. Arizona: A very narrow but long smoke plume extended well to the north from a fire in the Tonto National Forest near the Coconino-Gila County border in central Arizona. Southern Canada/North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota: Numerous fires primarily in southeastern Saskatchewan Province and southwestern Manitoba Province of southern Canada and North Dakota were detected during the day. Quite a few relative small smoke plumes were also observed in visible imagery with these fires. The smoke plumes were generally of the thin density variety but a few of them contained locally moderately dense smoke. The smoke over Canada was moving mainly to the east while over North Dakota the smoke was moving to the east or southeast. Several more smoke producing fires were also over far western Minnesota and South Dakota. These smoke plumes were moving more to the south. Oregon: A fire in northern Harney County of south central Oregon close to or in the Ochoco National Forest was producing a moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume which moved in a northerly direction. Western and Central US/central and western Canada/Alaska: Visible imagery with the favorable sun angle just before sunset continued to show the hazy appearance of some type of suspended particulate matter over very large portions of the US and Canada. Clouds in the western US and over the Great Lakes region made detection of this haze difficult in the early evening. However in the clearer areas in between, haze was apparent from Illinois/Indiana westward at least as far as the Wyoming/Montana/Idaho. More haze was noted spreading southward across Manitoba/Ontario Provinces of south central Canada as well as the Dakotas/Minnesota/northern Wisconsin/Lake Superior. Still more haze was visible farther to the northwest over Saskatchewan, Alberta, and southern British Columbia Provinces in Canada. Finally, a rather thin swath haze stretched from central to northwestern Alaska which was moving to the southwest. All of this haze is of unknown origin and composition. However, believe that there is some evidence that it is largely composed of dust from a series of dust storms originating in China/eastern Asia. JS