Monday, May 23, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 23, 2011

Texas/Oklahoma:
Remnant smoke from the Miller (southwest New Mexico) and the Horseshoe
2 (southeast Arizona) fires was viewed over much of central Texas and
southwestern Oklahoma this morning.  This remnant smoke is moving to
the east/northeast.

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 the Gulf of Mexico. Embedded
moderately dense to even dense smoke is present over the western Gulf
of Mexico, parallel to the Texas coast. 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.

Alberta/British Columbia:
Moderately dense to dense smoke continues to originate from point
sources in northern Alberta, as a result of the ongoing wildfires.
The smoke produced by these fires moved west throughout the morning
hours and crossed into British Columbia.

Northern Alberta/Northwest Territories/Arctic Ocean:
An expansive area of light smoke, also originating from the Alberta fires,
is stretching northwest into the western Northwest Territories and into
the Arctic.

Myrga/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

 


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.