DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 22, 2011
Southwest New Mexico/Southeast Arizona: The Miller (southwest New Mexico) and the Horseshoe 2 (southeast Arizona) fires continue to produce moderately dense smoke that stretches northeastward over central New Mexico. Northern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/South Central US/Southeastern US: An extremely large mass of what is believed to be primarily smoke continues to cover northern Mexico, and portions of the South Central and Southeastern US. The western edge extends from near Midland, TX through Oklahoma City, OK, and across southern Missouri. Embedded moderately dense to even dense smoke was present over northeastern Mexico and the western Gulf of Mexico. This huge area of smoke was likely from a number of sources including seasonal fires over Mexico, particularly in Chihuahua and Durango states, and Central America as well as some contribution in the Southeastern US and over the southwestern Atlantic from fires in southeastern Georgia and eastern North Carolina. Arizona/Northwest Mexico/Southern California: Areas of low density blowing dust are visible from the Mojave Desert/Salton Sea in California stretching northeastward across much of Arizona into western New Mexico. The blowing is also seen in Mexico across the northern Sonora state. Alberta: Moderately dense to dense smoke remains present in northern Alberta, southwest of Lake Athabasca, as a result of the ongoing fires near the town of Slave Lake. The smoke was moving towards the southwest this evening. Ruminski/Ramirez 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