DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z May 21, 2010
Northern US Plains/Great Lakes/New England/South Central and Eastern Canada: A large area of light smoke moved northward from the northern Plains into eastern Saskatchewan and the southern two-thirds of Manitoba before turning east across much of Ontario and southeastward over the northern Great Lakes, southern Quebec, New England and Nova Scotia. A significant amount of this smoke likely resulted from the numerous ag burns over the past few days over the Northern Plains, southern Saskatchewan, and Manitoba with other contributions from Tuesday's fires in Michigan and moderate to dense smoke moving northward from two fires today in central Saskatchewan just east of Lake Winnipeg. Southeast US: A large area of aerosols lingered along a dying frontal boundary off the Southeast coast. Aerosols were seen moving westward across the Carolinas as well as across the northern peninsula of Florida and into the northern Gulf of Mexico. While remnant smoke from regional ag fires in the Southeast yesterday and today may have contributed, the bulk of this aerosol is of unknown origin and composition. Western Gulf of Mexico/Louisiana/Texas: An area of aerosols of unknown origin and composition was seen in the western Gulf of Mexico and across southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. Fires in Mexico and Central America may be contributing to this area. Alaska: A small patch of thin smoke from the Toklat fire in central Alaska was seen drifting northwest of its origin. 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