DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z May 29, 2012
Western Great Lakes/Central US/Northern Rockies/Southwestern Canada: A large area of aerosol comprised mostly of elevated dust could be seen this morning over the Midwest/Central Plains states wrapping into the upper low that is just north of Lake Superior. This dust was present from eastern Lake Superior and Lake Michigan southwest to northern Missouri and then westward across Kansas/Nebraska/South Dakota before turning northwest across Colorado/Wyoming/Montana and Saskatchewan/Alberta. This dust is believed to be from Asia, although dust from the western US may have also contributed. Central and Eastern US: Smoke from the Baldy-Whitewater fire in New Mexico was seen stretching from the southwest corner of the state eastward across north Texas, Oklahoma, northwest Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. The most dense smoke was present over southern New Mexico and north Texas. Another extensive but separated area of smoke was present from the central Gulf of Mexico northward through the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and covered much of the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England. This smoke is from a combination of sources, including the Baldy-Whitewater fire, fires along the Mississippi River, and possibly also from fires in northwest Mexico. Mexico: Thin to moderately dense smoke was present in northwest Mexico from the large amount of fires there. It extended northeast to western Texas. Another small area of smoke from these fires had drifted east to the northeast corner of Mexico. Western Canada: An area of thin to moderately remnant dense smoke and possibly other aerosols was seen over northern Saskatchewan, north Alberta, northeast British Columbia, and southwestern Northwest Territories. This smoke is likely from two wildfires burning in northern Alberta. Sheffler 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