DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 21, 2009
South and Central Plains: A large area of thin smoke remained across much of east and coastal Texas this morning stretching northward across southeast Oklahoma and western Arkansas. This remnant smoke is likely from numerous agricultural fires in Texas and Oklahoma yesterday and from large fires in west Louisiana that had been producing moderately dense smoke yesterday evening. Also over south central and southwest Kansas, two small areas of thin smoke were seen and are presumed to be from yesterday's fires in Oklahoma/Texas, as mentioned above. Minnesota/North Dakota/southwest Ontario: Thin remnant smoke was observed this morning moving southeastward along the back edge of a band of clouds associated with a frontal boundary. It is believed this thin smoke is from recent fires in south central Canada, eastern North Dakota, and western Minnesota. Southwest Canada: A small area of thin remnant smoke was seen over the Saskatchewan/Alberta border moving southeastward this morning. The origin of this smoke is unknown. Sheffler THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov