DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 9, 2016
SMOKE: South-Central Canada/ North-central US/Great Lakes/Mid-Atlantic: An expansive area of light density remnant smoke from wildfires in Canada was seen throughout most of south-central Canada, the Northern Plains, the Great Lakes and the mid-Atlantic moving eastward off the coast into the Atlantic Ocean. A large area of moderate density smoke was seen in southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, North Dakota into Minnesota and Wisconsin. A smaller area of moderate density smoke was seen along the coast of North Carolina and off the coast of Virginia. A heavy density smoke plume could be seen fanning out to the north/northeast/east from a wildfire along the Ontario and Manitoba border. Another moderate to heavy density smoke plume could be seen going towards the northeast from a wildfire in northeast Alberta near Fort McMurray. Gulf of Mexico: An area of light to moderate density smoke was seen moving northwest from the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche and the southwestern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. This smoke originated from extensive seasonal burning in southern Mexico and Central America. DUST: Texas: Areas of light to medium density blowing dust/sand were observed in northern and eastern Chihuahua moving eastward and east-northeastward into far west Texas and southeast New Mexico. Another area of blowing dust that spanned from west central Texas into the panhandle of Texas was moving northeast into southwest Oklahoma. Clouds from convection to the southeast obscured the full extent of this blowing dust. -Cronin 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