DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z April 18, 2016

SMOKE:
US...
Fires with visible smoke plumes were scattered across the Eastern US
though no significant larger areas of detached smoke were seen anywhere
over the US during the day.

Bay of Campeche/Western Gulf of Mexico:
Smoke from the ongoing seasonal fires occurring over portions of
Mexico and Central America was visible over the Bay of Campeche and the
western Gulf of Mexico. The smoke may have reached into southern and
southeastern Texas though cloudiness in that region limited additional
smoke information from satellite imagery.

DUST:
Southwestern Canada/Montana/Idaho:
Similar to yesterday, a possible swath of thin density dust was seen with
the favorable low sun angle just prior to sunset stretching from central
Saskatchewan and southern Alberta over western Montana and northern and
central Idaho. This possible dust may have originated from Asia according
to aerosol/dust transport models.

Eastern Pacific/Baja/Northwestern Mexico/Gulf of California:
Possible patches of leftover thin density dust could be seen over
portions of the eastern Pacific just off the Baja coast, Baja, the Gulf
of California, and northwestern Mexico. The coverage of this aerosol
(possible dust) was less than observed in this region yesterday.

JS


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.