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