Monday, May 6, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 6, 2013

Gulf of Mexico:
Thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen over much of Central America,
the western Caribbean, the Mexican coastline, and reaching north to
the extreme southern tip of Texas. Numerous ag fires burning in Central
America the past few days are the cause of this remnant smoke. Another
smaller area of aerosol determined to be thin remnant smoke could be
seen moving southeast across the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

US East Coast:
The upper low over the eastern US was drawing a thin/fine unknown
aerosol from the eastern Gulf of Mexico across southern Florida/Bahamas
and northward off the Southeast US before it wrapped inland across the
Carolinas. This aerosol could be several day old smoke from Central
America that has mixed with other aerosols.

Southern and Central Plains/Inter-mountain West/Northwest US:
An extensive area of unknown aerosol stretched from the East Pacific
just off north California/southwest Oregon eastward across southern
Idaho/Wyoming/northeast Colorado covering areas from southern South Dakota
southward to northeast and east Texas/southwest Arkansas where it may
have even stretched to the Gulf Coast and mixed with previously mentioned
remnant smoke. While the composition of much of the aerosol plume is
unknown, smoke from fires in north CA, OR, WA may have contributed to
the aerosol mass further west and some dust may have been entrained
across the High Plains/Inter-mountain West states.

Southern Canada/North Central US/Great Lakes:
Two separated areas of unknown aerosol were seen, one from east
Minnesota/northwest Wisconsin across Lake Superior and over southeast
Ontario/southern Quebec. The other was seen over southern Alberta/south
Saskatchewan/south Manitoba/north Montana/northern North Dakota and may
have been composed partially of elevated dust and smoke from ag fires
in southern Canada yesterday.

Sheffler

THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS
OF 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.