DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z May 18, 2011
Alberta/Saskatchewan/Northwest Territory/ British Columbia/North Manitoba: Moderately dense to very dense smoke from the large wildfires in northeastern and north central Alberta was spreading out across west central Canada. The smoke stretched from northeast British Columbia/northwest Alberta eastward across northwest Hudson's Bay. These fires continued to produce dense smoke this evening that was spreading to the north and northwest into southern Northwest Territories and northeast British Columbia/northwest Alberta. South Central to Northeast Canada: Thin remnant smoke with some areas of moderate density smoke were present from eastern Manitoba/Ontario northeastward across Quebec and Labrador extending across the sea south of Greenland. A gyre south of Hudson's Bay allowed for moderately dense to dense smoke to accumulate. Nearly all of this smoke likely originated from the wildfires in Alberta although with numerous agricultural fires burning in north central US/south central Canada, there may be some added influence from those regions. North Central US: An area of thin remnant smoke could be seen from southeast Manitoba/southwest Ontario extending southward across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa. Most of this smoke is believed to be from regional ag fires over the past few days that is being pulled north and northwestward while wrapping into the gyre over Canada south of Hudson's Bay. Gulf of Mexico/Southeast US Coast: Thin to moderately dense remnant smoke stretched from the Texas coast across almost the entire northern Gulf and across southern Florida before turning northeastward and wrapping into a low pressure system off the east coast. This smoke has come primarily from the large fires in northwest Mexico and from fires in the southern US. Northern Mexico: Hundreds of fires in Mexico were producing moderately dense to dense smoke that was drifting eastward this evening. New Mexico: Blowing sand and dust could be seen originating from White Sands, New Mexico this evening moving eastward into the southern Texas Panhandle. 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.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