Friday, May 20, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z May 21, 2011

Alaska/Northern Yukon/Northwest Territories/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba:
A very large area of smoke can be see stretching from northeastern
portions of Alaska through the Northwest Territories and southeastward
to west central Canada. Moderate to locally very dense smoke can be
seen over northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and northern Manitoba
provinces. Much of this smoke is believed to be from the large wildfires
burning in northern Alberta.

British Columbia/Western US:
A large band of mostly light smoke with some embedded moderate density
smoke can still be seen in the same general area stretching from central
British Columbia southward through Washington, Oregon, Nevada and into
southern Utah and northwest Arizona. All of this smoke is believed to
have originated from the wildfires currently burning in northern Alberta.

Eastern Canada:
The long and thin area of light smoke which was seen earlier today from
near the Ontario/Quebec border eastward into far eastern Quebec was no
longer visible by late in the day. This was likely remnant smoke from
the wildfires in northern Alberta.

Central Oklahoma to Northern Mexico and Central Baja:
The persistent very thin and elongated area of light, remnant smoke had
shifted a bit more to the east during the day and extended from at least
as far northeast as central Oklahoma southwestward across north central to
southwestern Texas. The thin band then extended over northwestern Mexico
down into central Baja California. This smoke was seen moving southward
down the West Coast yesterday and is from the wildfires currently burning
through northern Alberta.

Northern Mexico/Central Texas/Gulf of Mexico:
A very large mass of smoke covered a good portion of northern Mexico
as well as the Gulf of Mexico. The smoke also extended northward into
the south central US. Areas of moderately dense to locally dense smoke
were embedded within this large area particularly over the western Gulf
of Mexico and southeastern Texas as well as in western Mexico closer
to a large cluster of fires. The sources for all of this smoke was a
combination of fires burning over Mexico and Central America.

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.