Saturday, May 30, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1745Z May 30, 2009

Northern Plains and south central Provinces of Canada:
Thin, smoke from fires last evening along the front range of the Rockies
in southwest Alberta was seen moving to the east southeast in a narrow
tongue across a portion of southeast Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and
southern Manitoba. A separate area of narrow, thin smoke was along the
Montana/Saskatchewan border.

Gulf of Mexico:
Remnant smoke from the Mexican and Guatemala fires continues to be
observed across the southern Gulf of Mexico, mainly confined to an area
south of about 24N and west of 90W with the thickest smoke area in the
Bay of Campeche.

Western Canada into the Pacific:
An area of unknown aerosol was seen behind a frontal system and covered a
large portion of northern and central Alberta, central British Columbia
and extended off the coast into the Pacific over and just north of the
northern tip of Vancouver Island. The aerosol was moderately dense in
patches. The source and type of aerosol is unmkown, but may possibly
have originated in Asia and crossed the Pacific.

Ruminski


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













 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.