Saturday, May 23, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 24, 2015

SMOKE
Eastern Alaska/Northwest Canada to Southeast Canada:
A very expansive area of light smoke was seen that extended from eastern
Alaska into much of Yukon and western Northwest Territories into northern
British Columbia, much of Alberta and Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba,
southern Ontario and southern Quebec and exiting off the US Northeast
into the Gulf of Maine. This broad area of smoke is from numerous
wildfires that are burning over a wide area of central and northwest
Canada. Embedded within this area of light smoke were numerous patches
of moderate and dense smoke that were mostly in closer proximity to the
fires, although there was a larger patch of moderate and dense smoke that
extended from southwest Alberta to southern Manitoba that was further
detached from most of the wildfires.

Gulf of Mexico:
There was a small patch of remnant smoke from the fires burning in
southern Florida that was seen over the eastern Gulf of Mexico that was
moving to the west. Smoke from the seasonal burning in Central America
mixed with smoke from the oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche was seen over
the western Gulf and was moving mostly to the north.

DUST
Southern California:
A small area of light blowing dust was seen near the Salton Sea this
evening and it was moving to the east across the Sea.

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

 


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.