DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 15, 2012
High Level Smoke from Asian Fires Across North America: An incredibly extensive area of elevated smoke from numerous wildfires burning in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia has covered large portions of North America. The smoke can be seen stretching almost unbroken from the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alsaska into northwest Canada over northern British Columbia, southern Yukon and southern Northwest Territory. The smoke area then curves to the southeast across much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and into Ontario and southern Quebec, with the leading edge of the smoke reaching the western shores of Newfoundland by sunset. A branch of the smoke has gotten pulled into the US behind a strong low pressure system now spinning over west Texas. The smoke area covers much of the Great Lakes and extends to the southwest across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, Iowa, northern Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska and much of Colorado and New Mexico. The smoke can be seen over west Texas and the Panhandle and over central Oklahoma into western Arkansas. Additional smoke may be in other portions of central Texas but extensive cloud cover inhibits smoke detection here. Arizona: Three fires burning in central Arizona were producing a broad area of smoke that covered much of the southern half of the state and into northern Mexico. Idaho: Numerous fires in central and northern Idaho were producing smoke that was mainly moving to the north and northeast. Northwest Mexico: A very large number of fires in northwest Mexico in Sonora, Durango and Chihuahua were producing a broad area of smoke in the region that was mostly drifting to the south. Blowing dust: Nevada/California: An area of blowing dust was seen over western Nevada that was being generated along the Nevada/California border in Nye and Esmeralda counties and moving to the north reaching into Pershing county. Additional blowing dust was seen over the deserts of southern California, although not as thick or extensive as in Nevada. This dust was moving mainly to the east toward the Arizona border. Northern Mexico: A fast moving dust storm was seen pushing quickly to the south through Chihuahua in northern Mexico. Ruminski 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