DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 12, 2016
SMOKE: Bay of Campeche/Northwestern Gulf of Mexico/Southern Plains: A large area of light to moderately dense smoke was visible over the Bay of Campeche with thin density smoke extending northward into the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and inland over much of Texas stretching as far north as southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri though it is uncertain as to how much smoke is actually present this far north in addition to other atmospheric pollutants. The source of the smoke is the ongoing seasonal burning occurring over portions of southeastern Mexico and Central America. Pacific Northwest: At least a couple dozen fires with visible smoke plumes of varying density were analyzed over portions of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and north central Idaho. Western Canada/Montana: Smoke from the wildfire located near Ft. McMurray spread to the south during the day with a sizable area of moderately dense to thick smoke covering much of eastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and over the border across northern to southeastern Montana. Southeastern Canada/Northeastern US: A large mass of moderately dense to even locally thick smoke was visible trapped under high pressure over Quebec Province. Thinner density smoke surrounded this thicker batch and extended farther to the southeast across much of the Northeastern US and offshore over the Atlantic. The source of this smoke is not precisely known, but is very likely attributed to recent wildfire activity over southern Canada near the Manitoba-Ontario border with some possible contribution from the Ft. McMurray fire in eastern Alberta. 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