DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z May 30, 2012
Current Period: New Mexico/Texas: Immense amounts of smoke continue to emit from the Baldy-Whitewater fire in New Mexico. Smoke from this fire extends across New Mexico and Texas and curves southeastward into the western Gulf of Mexico. This evening, the thickest smoke was located across central New Mexico and then became patchy across central Texas. In this same area, medium-density smoke was also present. Thin-density smoke from this fire is vast and could be seen over New Mexico, most of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. Eastern US: A large area of agricultural fires were present today along the lower Mississippi River Valley. Thin-density smoke could be seen emitting from many of these fires extending a bit to the south and east, getting wrapped up into Beryl's circulation. As a result of the Baldy-Whitewater fire burning for many days, as well as these agricultural fires, a large area of medium-density smoke could be seen over the eastern half of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Alabama/Mississippi. Thin-density smoke surrounded the same area but also extended northeastward into New England and could be seen off the coast of Maine this evening. These two large areas of smoke combined this evening, allowing for extensive areal coverage of various-density smoke over much of the south and eastern US. Mexico: Thin-to-medium thick smoke was present across northwest Mexico today. A few fires located in this area, closest to the US border, emitted large amounts of smoke this afternoon. The thin-to-moderately dense smoke from the northern-most fire located along the Sonora/Chihuahua border extends eastward and was approaching the southwest Texas around sunset. Vogt --- From Earlier Today: 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