Wednesday, May 4, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z May 4, 2016

SMOKE:

Western/Central Canada/northern Plains:
Large wildfires continue to rage over northeast British Columbia and
northern Alberta this morning and early afternoon. The smoke generated
from these fires over the past several days has contributed to a large
area of residual light smoke that now covers much of northeast Alberta,
most of Saskatchewan (not seen currently in southeast sections of
Saskatchewan) and into western Manitoba. The smoke has also drifted
south into the northern Plains, covering much of eastern Montana,
central/western North Dakota/South Dakota, northeast Wyoming and north
central Nebraska. An area of moderately dense to very dense residual
smoke is seen in northern/central Saskatchewan and east central Manitoba.
Currently, light to moderately dense smoke continues emitting from the
massive fire near Ft McMurray.

J Kibler

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.