DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z May 3, 2016
SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico: Most of the western half of the Gulf is covered in moderate to dense smoke this evening due to the seasonal burning in Mexico and Central America. The smoke has been shunted south of the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts due to northerly outflow winds associated with a large thunderstorm complex. Central Canada: Large wildfires are burning in northeast British Columbia and northeast Alberta. Residual smoke and from previous days along with new smoke from today's burning has smoke spreading over much of western Saskatchewan, much of Alberta and northeast British Columbia. The most dense smoke is associated with the fire in northeast Alberta near Ft McMurray which has very dense smoke spreading to the southeast. 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