DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 26, 2015
SMOKE Western Canada/Central Canada/US: A large area of light to heavy-density smoke is seen this evening from the numerous wildfires burning in Yukon, western Northwest Territories, northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and central/northern Saskatchewan (notably the wildfire near Garson Lake). This smoke covers parts of northeast Alaska and much of northeast British Columbia, Yukon, western NW Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The smoke spills over the border into the northern Plains in North Dakota and Montana. Moderate and dense patches of smoke were embedded within this larger area and mostly confined to east central Alberta, central Saskatchewan and west central Manitoba. It should be noted that there is considerable cloud cover over much of the smoke/fire area which is hindering smoke detection and accurate smoke boundaries. Gulf of Mexico: An area of light to medium-density remnant smoke from the seasonal burning in Central America was visible moving NW over the southwest Gulf of Mexico extending from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Texas and Louisiana coasts. OTHER AEROSOL: Alaska: A fairly broad area of aerosol was seen extending mostly in a north/south direction that extended from the vicinity of the Bering Straight southward through the Bering Sea, across the Aleutians and into the western Gulf of Alaska. The appearance of this aerosol most closely matches dust transported from Asia in the NASA aerosol model, although there could be some smoke also mixed in. Washington/Oregon: An unknown aerosol was detected this evening along the Oregon/Washington border and moving to the east. 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