DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 25, 2011
North and Northeast Mexico/Central and East Texas/Oklahoma/Western Gulf of Mexico: An large area of mostly thin smoke covered northern and northeastern Mexico and a portion of the western Gulf of Mexico this morning and into early afternoon. It also extended northward across the central/eastern half of Texas and into southeastern Oklahoma. An area of more moderately dense smoke can be seen moving northward into the extreme western Gulf coming into portions of southeast Texas. This area of smoke was mainly from seasonal fires that continue to burn over northern Mexico, the Yucatan and Central America. Southeast US: An area of thin smoke can be seen along the southeastern coast of the US extending from the Virginia/North Carolina border southward into northern Florida. This is most likely remnant smoke from the fires not only coming up from Mexico and Central America, but also the fires burning through the lower Mississippi Valley and southeast. Northern Alaska/Northern Territories/Central and Southern Canada: A very large area of light to very heavy smoke can be seen stretching all the way from just south of the Hudson Bay back westward into Saskatchewan and Alberta into the Northwest Territories/Yukon and into northern Alaska. This is all remnant and new smoke from the wildfires that continue to burn through northern Alberta. A swath of the very dense smoke can be seen from near the northern British Columbia/Alberta border southeastward to near Winnipeg, Manitoba. BLOWING DUST IN THE UNITED STATES: West Texas: An area of blowing dust can be seen emanating from just west of Lubbock, Texas and moving towards the southeast. With the presence of a strong upper-level system just to the north and the recent passage of a strong cold front, strong northwesterly winds behind the front are leading to the area of blowing dust. Belge THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE 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 ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov