DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1545Z May 18, 2008
Atlantic off East US Coast: An area of very thin smoke and haze, most likely from fires in the Yucatan and Guatemala that has drifted northeasterly ahead of a shortwave trof (currently over eastern Great Lakes extending into the TN River Valley) can in a 350km wide swath centered SW to NE from E NC and northern outer banks to 43N64W. This area is moving East and NE. Florida and the N Bahamas: An area of thin smoke and haze, mostly from the south and central FL fires along with the large fire on S Great Abaco can be seen over a large portion of the Sargasso Sea, the Northern Bahamian islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, along with the northern straits of Florida and counties just north of Lake Okeechobee. (Bounds are 30N75W – 28N68W – 26N75W – 27.5N81W). This area appears to be drifting due E on the western side of the bounds and NE on the eastern side. This area has a much higher consistency than the other two areas. Ohio Valley into Missouri/Kansas: A thin string of very thin smoke from fires in Alberta over the last two days could be seen on GOES-West visible imagery due to very high reflectivity of smoke with the very sharp sun angle in the very early morning....but since the angle has decreased, the smoke cannot be seen at this hour except for the highest densities (which are still quite low). Still this area is located behind the shortwave trof over the eastern US into the TN River Valley and could be seen in a line about 50km wide from Erie, PA to Cincinnati, OH to Cape Girardeau, MO turning NWward across central MO into NE KS where it fades to background. Gallina