Sunday, May 8, 2016

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

 


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.