DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 7, 2016
SMOKE: Significant portions of Canada and the US: The ongoing large wildfires especially over eastern British Columbia and far western Alberta and the destructive one near Ft. McMurray in eastern Alberta continued to emit large dense smoke plumes which spread to the east and southeast congealing into an expansive swath of moderately dense to thick smoke covering portions of western and south central Canada along with the northern tier of the US from eastern Montana to northern Minnesota. Another significant wildfire along the Manitoba-Ontario border north of Minnesota was also producing dense smoke which moved to the south and into northern Minnesota during the day. The transport of thin to moderately dense smoke from all of the Canadian fires mentioned above continued southward and covered a large portion of the Central US from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf Coast and over the Gulf of Mexico. The smoke then spread eastward from the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast region over Georgia and Florida and offshore over the Atlantic. DUST: Northern Mexico/Arizona/New Mexico/Western Texas: Gusty southwesterly winds kicked up areas of blowing dust this afternoon and early evening from a number of sources in southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and northern Mexico just south of the New Mexico border and southwest of El Paso Texas. The dust emanating from northern Mexico was especially dense as it moved to the northeast over southern New Mexico and far western Texas with El Paso TX noting reduced visibility in weather observations. More thin density blowing dust was visible originating from source regions between Midland and Lubbock Texas and moving to the north-northwest along the Texas-New Mexico border just prior to sunset. 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