Thursday May 31, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1632Z May 31, 2012

Northern Plains/Canada:
An area of thin-density smoke, possibly mixed with dust from fires in
Asia, can be seen in this morning's imagery over much of the northern US
Plains up through the Northwest Territories.  The area also is wrapping
around the south side of a low and extends across central and northern
Ontario as well.  An area of medium dense smoke is present over North
Dakota and into Saskatchewan, north central Manitoba, and northwestern
Ontario.

Colorado:
Light remnant smoke can be seen along the Colorado/New Mexico border.
This is likely remnant smoke from the The Sunrise Mine and Little Sand
wildfires.

Southeast US:
An area of remnant smoke can be seen from Mississippi and Alabama across
the northeast Gulf of Mexico, covering northern Florida and off the East
coast of Florida.  The smoke is likely a mix from various fires in the
southwest US and the Mississippi Valley.

Southwest US/Texas/Mexico:
An area of light to medium dense smoke extends from central Texas into
southern Arizona.  A plume of medium and heavy smoke is still being
emitted from the Whitewater-Baldy fire and extends over southeastern
Arizona.  Remnant smoke from this fire as well as multiple fires in
northern Mexico are likely the contributing factors to the larger area
of remnant smoke.


Liddick


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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.