DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z May 16, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Washington/Western Canada: Patchy areas of light remnant smoke were seen over east central and southeast Alaska (and adjoining waters) and southwest Yukon Territory. This smoke originated from the wildfire near Prince George in central British Columbia. Additional light remnant smoke from this fire was also seen this morning over southwest British Columbia to Vancouver Island with a separate patch detected east of the Cascades in central Washington. The full extent of this smoke was not discernable due to extensive cloud cover over much of the region, especially off the coast. A separate area of light remnant smoke was seen moving south over far northeast British Columbia, far southeast Yukon Territory, southwest Northwest Territories near Great Slave Lake and into northwest Alberta. This smoke is believed to have originated from fires burning in Asia. Western Gulf of Mexico: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen from the Bay of Campeche northward into the northwest portion of the Gulf. This is a mix of smoke from the numerous agricultural burns and prescribed burns in Central America and oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche. Ruminski 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