DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z May 21, 2008
Gulf of Mexico/Florida: An area of haze extends from the Bay of Campeche and the Yucatan Peninsula northeastward across the south central Gulf of Mexico and the central and southern portion of the Florida peninsula to the Bahamas. This region of haze is believed to be mainly composed of leftover smoke from the large number of seasonal fires continuing to burn across portions of southeastern Mexico and Central America. Some thin Smoke from the fires located on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee was seen in early morning visible imagery moving to the east over the lake. South Central Canada to the Ohio Valley: Early morning visible imagery showed a large elongated swath of possible thin smoke extending from northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba provinces of south central Canada southeastward over the Dakotas and Minnesota to at least as far southeast as the Ohio Valley and mid Mississippi Valley. The source region of this possible smoke is not definitely known, but it may be from fires in Russia. Idaho: More possible leftover smoke of thin density from the Russian fires was seen this morning in a north-south oriented band extending from the border of northern Idaho-western Montana to the border of southwestern Idaho-northeastern Nevada. The band of possible smoke was moving slowly to the east. JS