DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z May 9, 2013

Gulf of Mexico:
The southern half of the Gulf of Mexico is covered by moderate density
remnant smoke as a result of an enormous amount of wildfires and
agricultural burns that continue to be active each day in Mexico.

Pacific Northwest:
Much of the US Pacific Northwest region, including Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, and Montana, as well as southern British Columbia, Alberta,
and Saskatchewan in Canada, is covered in a broad area of remnant thin
density smoke that was collectively produced from wildfires in those
states and provinces. It is very likely that Asian dust is present in
this region, too.

Gulf of Alaska:
An unknown aerosol was observed near the southern Alaska coast earlier
in the day today. Models indicate that this is likely surface sulfate
pollutants.

From this Morning-
Midwest/Great Lakes:
An area of thin to moderately dense smoke was observed across portions
of Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Michigan
and southeastern Ontario province.  The portion of the smoke seen as
moderately dense was oriented southwest to northeast across central
Michigan. This area of remnant smoke originated from several agricultural
fires that were analyzed yesterday across the northern plains and
south-central Canada.

Dust:
A broad area of trans-Pacific dust is observed over Alberta, Saskatchewan
and southwest Manitoba provinces.  The dust is believed to have originated
from Asia.

Ramirez

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.