DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z May 4, 2016
SMOKE: Western/Central Canada/northern Plains: Large wildfires continue to rage over northeast British Columbia and northern and central Alberta this afternoon and evening. The smoke generated from these fires over the past several days has contributed to a large area of remnant light smoke that now covers much of northern Alberta, northeast British Columbia, nearly all of Saskatchewan and into central Nunavut. The smoke has also drifted south into the northern Plains, covering much of western North Dakota and eastern Montana. An area of moderately dense to very dense smoke is in closer proximity to the fires. The most dense smoke was associated with the massive fire near Ft McMurray. Idaho/western Montana: Numerous fires were detected in northern Idaho and northwest Montana and were generating a broad area of light to moderately dense smoke that covered much of the region. A larger plume of smoke was associated with a fire in west central Idaho south of McCall. This area of light to moderately dense smoke was moving to the north along to the border region with Oregon and Washington. Gulf of Mexico: Smoke from the regional burning in Mexico and Central America was over the southwest Gulf today. Northerly winds over the northwest Gulf have mostly kept the light to moderate smoke south of 26N. 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