DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z May 19, 2015
SMOKE Western Gulf of Mexico: Remnant smoke from the seasonal agricultural burning in Central America covered much of the western Gulf from the Bay of Campeche northward to the Texas Coast. The smoke was mostly light density with a patch of moderate embedded within. Eastern Gulf of Mexico: Light smoke from a wildfire burning in the western Everglades was seen tracking to the west into the eastern Gulf. A patch of remnant smoke from the fire was seen in the straight between Cuba and the Yucatan. South central and western Canada: Remnant smoke from a wildfire near Prince George in central British Columbia was mixing with smoke from agricultural burning in southern Saskatchewan creating a broad areas of mostly light smoke that covers much of southern Saskatchewan and southern and central Alberta. The smoke extends into British Columbia where more extensive cloud cover makes the full extent of the smoke difficult to assess. Fires in northern British Columbia were creating locally moderate to dense smoke this evening. BLOWING DUST: An area of light blowing dust was seen over southern California that originated from the desert areas west of the Salton Sea. This dust was moving to the east. A small plume of blowing dust was also seen to the northwest of the Salton Sea and was moving to the south. 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