DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 16, 2010
North Central US/Southern Canada: A very large area of thin density aerosol was still visible this afternoon and early evening across much of southern and southwestern Canada from south central Ontario Province to southern Alberta Province. The aerosol also appeared to cover the far northern portion of Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and the northern UP of Michigan as well as Lake Superior. This aerosol is likely composed at least partly of remnant smoke from fires the past few days in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Gulf of Mexico: The residual smoke from Mexican/Central American fires which was visible earlier this morning along the western portion of the Gulf of Mexico and southern Texas was no longer discernible later in the day due to cloudiness. Farther to the south, some smoke from the Mexican/Central American seasonal fires was still visible mainly over the Bay of Campeche. Eastern US: The swath of aerosol, possibly composed of residual smoke from the Central American and/or southeastern US fires, stretches along a frontal boundary from Tennessee/Kentucky/Alabama to North Carolina and eastward off the coast. Also just to the north of this cold front over parts of Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula, and just off the coast a light aerosol can be seen. It is not known at this time if this is remnant smoke or some other aerosol. JS 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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