DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 13, 2015
SMOKE: Western Canada/Central Canada: A large stationary area of light density remnant smoke was seen in western and central Canada along with moderate density smoke plumes associated with today's wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta. The remnant smoke is primarily composed of smoke from yesterday's wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta and elevated trans-Pacific residual smoke from Asia. This area of remnant smoke covers SE Yukon, SW portions of the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and western Ontario. A significant moderate density smoke plume was observed moving to the northwest from a wildfire southwest of Prince George near Little Bobtail Lake in central British Colombia. Another wildfire that produced a moderate density smoke plume was observed in central Alberta. Western Gulf of Mexico: A large area of residual light density smoke mixed with Saharan dust continues to be observed in the western Gulf of Mexico. The areal coverage of the smoke spans from the Gulf of Campeche to about 27N to the western coast of Cuba; although clouds obscure the observation of smoke any further west than 92W. The smoke originated from an abundance of agricultural/prescribed burns in Cuba and Central American. AEROSOLS: Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean/Eastern U.S.: A diffuse area of aerosols, primarily Saharan dust, has spread from the Caribbean across the panhandle of Florida to the western Gulf of Mexico. Aerosols can also be seen along the Eastern seaboard from the Caribbean to New England coastline. -Cronin 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