DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z May 16, 2012
Canada/North Central US: The expansive area of high level remnant smoke (some of this smoke has been detected 11 to 12 km high in the atmosphere) that has originated from fires in Siberia remains visible across a large portion of North America this morning. A band of light density aerosols stretches over northern Alberta and Saskatchewan southeast into central Manitoba and Ontario. Remnant smoke then continues to track south over the Great Lakes and into the US states of Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Embedded within the larger light density area is a strip of medium density aerosol. Arizona: Three large wildfires continue to burn in the mountains of central Arizona, as well as one other fire in New Mexico near the Arizona border. They were all generating smoke plumes to the north northwest that were visible at first light. Detached smoke from these wildfires is also observed in southeast Utah. Mexico: Several smoke producing fires remain active along the Sonora-Chihuahua-Sinaloa border in northern Mexico. Moderately dense smoke is localized near the sources and encompassed by a broad area of remnant light density smoke. Ramirez 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