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