DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 20, 2011
Alaska/Northwest Territories/Alberta/Central and Northeastern Canada: A very large area of smoke can be see stretching from northeastern portions of Alaska through the Northwest Territories and southward through eastern British Columbia and northern/central Alberta. Moderate to locally very dense smoke can be seen through northern Alberta where the large wildfires continue to burn there. British Columbia/Western US: A large band of mostly light smoke with some embedded moderate density smoke can be seen stretching from central British Columbia southward through Washington, Oregon, Nevada and into southern Utah and northwest Arizona. The moderately dense smoke could be seen through central/eastern British Columbia. All of this smoke is believed to have originated from the wildfires currently burning through northern Alberta. Eastern Canada: A long and thin area of light smoke can be seen from near the Ontario/Quebec border eastward into far eastern Quebec. This is remnant smoke from the wildfires in northern Alberta. Off the Southeastern US Coast: An area of remnant light smoke from the wildfires in southern/southeast Georgia can be seen just off the coast of Georgia/southern South Carolina in this morning's satellite imagery. With a lot of clouds in that region today, it made it difficult to see the full eastward extent of the smoke. Colorado/Kansas Border to Northern Mexico and Central Baja: There is a very thin and elongated area of light, remnant smoke that can be seen stretching from near the border of Colorado and Kansas southward into New Mexico/West Texas and into the central Baja California region. This smoke was seen moving southward down the West Coast yesterday and is from the wildfires currently burning through northern Alberta, Canada. Northern Mexico/Central Texas: A very large number of fires continue to burn across portions of northern Mexico through southern/central Chihuahua and into Sinaloa and Durango this evening. This is continuing to creat a large area of mostly light smoke from northern Mexico into the central/southern portion of Texas. Gulf of Mexico: A large area of moderate to very dense smoke can be seen moving northward through the western and central Gulf of Mexico and extending inland towards central Texas and southern Louisiana. The source region for this smoke is likely from the numerous fires burning through southern Mexico and Central America over the last several days and weeks. Belge 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