Thursday May 31, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z June 1, 2012

Northern Plains/Manitoba:
An area of thin-density smoke was noted from Lake Winnipeg southward
along the North/South Dakota and Minnesota borders and into eastern
Nebraska. The source of the smoke is possibly from fires burning in
northern Canada the past few days.

Northern Canada:
Several large blazes in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan are generating
moderately dense to dense smoke plumes which are mostly moving to the
east, south of Lake Athabasca.

East Coast:
Patches of thin density smoke were seen along and off the East Coast
from Cape Cod, New Jersey and the Delmarva into eastern North Carolina
and extending east into the Atlantic. This is remnant smoke from the
large Whitewater Baldy fire in New Mexico and from numerous agricultural
fires in the mid to lower Mississippi Valley.

Colorado:
Light 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 stretching across the northern
Florida Panhandle eastward into the Atlantic. The smoke is likely a mix
from various fires in the southwest US and the Mississippi Valley.

Southwest US/Texas/Mexico:
The Whitewater Baldy fire continues to rage in southwest New Mexico and
produce large amounts of dense smoke. This evening, the smoke was moving
to the southwest into southeast Arizona and northern Sonora. Remnant
smoke from this fire along with smoke being produced from numerous fires
in Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango states in northwest Mexico are leaving
much of northern Mexico and west Texas covered in light to moderately
dense smoke.

Blowing dust:
An area of blowing dust was seen over western Sonora originating near
the Gulf of California and moving inland to the east.

Ruminski


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.