DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z May 04, 2014
Central and South Central US: Fires were scattered across the region from the Central Plains to the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley. A number of smoke plumes were visible in satellite imagery across the region including a couple of plumes originating from fires in western Oklahoma which moved rapidly away from the fires and fanned out covering a large area. Western Canada/Southeastern Alaska: An area of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition extended from the Northwest Territories and northern Manitoba to British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Gulf of Alaska: Thin density aerosol which is likely at least partly composed of glacial flour was seen moving to the southwest and over the Gulf of Alaska. Blowing Dust... Nevada: A possible streak of blowing dust was seen moving to the northeast from a source in western Nevada during the afternoon and early evening. However, cloudiness in the area made it uncertain if this was actually dust. The National Weather Service Dust Forecast Product though did indicate there would be blowing dust in this region. Northeastern Pacific: Aerosol which is possibly dust transported from Asia was entrained in the circulation around 2 low pressure systems in the northeastern Pacific. Some of the dust was moving to the northwest toward the Aleutian Islands while another portion of the dust was wrapping around the southern end of a low pressure circulation which may eventually take it toward the Pacific Northwest over the next couple of days. JS Earlier this Morning... LA/Gulf of Mexico...A swath of thin density aerosol which is likely leftover smoke from fires in Louisiana yesterday was seen moving to the southeast along and off the southeastern Louisiana coast. DUST/AEROSOLS: Alaska: An area of glacial flour was visible in the Gulf of Alaska blowing westward from portions of southeastern Alaska. British Columbia/Alberta: An area of elevated aerosols with unknown origin was detected dropping southward through northern British Columbia and Alberta. Vogt Miller 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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