DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 13, 2011
US/Gulf of Mexico/Northern Mexico: An extremely large area of thin density aerosol which is believed to contain smoke covers a good portion of northern Mexico, the Southwestern US, the Great Plains region from the Dakotas to Texas, the middle and lower Mississippi Valley, the Southeastern US, and the Mid-Atlantic coastal region. Within this enormous area of thin density aerosol are areas of moderately dense to dense smoke which extend from eastern Arizona and northern Mexico across the South Central US and eastward along the Gulf Coast region to off the Florida coast. Many larger wildfires are responsible for this huge mass of smoke including ones which continue to burn over northern and western Mexico, eastern and southeastern Arizona, northwestern Texas, southeastern Georgia, northeastern Florida, and far northeastern North Carolina. Central/Eastern Canada/Great Lakes Region: A large and expansive region of smoke can also be seen stretching from extreme eastern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan through Ontario and Quebec, across Hudson Bay, and eventually off the eastern Canadian coast. The smoke is also being wrapped southeastward around the back side of low pressure over Lake Superior, the UP of Michigan, northern lower Michigan, and Lake Huron. All of this smoke is from the numerous wildfires that continue to burn in northeastern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan. The most dense smoke in Canada is located closer to the wildfires over northeastern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan, with a larger detached mass of moderately dense to locally dense smoke over portions of Manitoba, Ontario, southern Hudson Bay, and western Quebec. Earlier this morning... Alaska/Central Yukon: A narrow band of light smoke can be seen from northern Alaska reaching southeastward into parts of southern/central Yukon. This could be remnant smoke from the wildfires in central Canada that is getting wrapped back around the system to the north and/or could also be from the few fires that have been observed over the past week or so through central Alaska. JS/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