DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 13, 2016
SMOKE: Earlier This Morning... Patches of leftover thin density smoke from fires in northern California, Oregon, and Washington were visible this morning drifting eastward over eastern Washington and into northern Idaho and western Montana as well as from southeastern Oregon into southern Idaho. During the Day... Pacific Northwest: Fires were once again detected scattered across northern California, Oregon, and Washington with a few smoke plumes seen though cloudiness passing over the region interfered with additional information concerning smoke extent and density. Western and Southern Canada/North Central and Central US: The ongoing fire near Ft. McMurray in eastern Alberta was producing thick smoke which moved southward during the day over central and south central Alberta. Satellite imagery also showed a large area of thin to moderately dense smoke associated primarily with this fire extending to the south and southeast over south central Canada and over the border into portions of Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The smoke stretched southeast from there across the Central Plains reaching nearly to St. Louis, Missouri just prior to sunset. Southeastern Canada/Northeastern US: Leftover thin to moderately dense smoke from some of the recent wildfire activity in south central and western Canada was still visible during the day stretching from Quebec Province across much of the Northeastern US and offshore over the Atlantic. Bay of Campeche/Western Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas/Southwestern Louisiana: Thin to moderately dense smoke from the ongoing seasonal burning was detected over the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico. Thinner smoke also likely extended farther to the north into southern Texas and southwestern Louisiana though there is some uncertainty as to how much of the aerosol seen there is composed of smoke. Western Alaska/Bering Sea: Thin density smoke attributed to wildfire activity in Siberia has become entrained in a weather system and transported over the Pacific and northward over a portion of the Aleutian Islands and southwestern Alaska. Cloudiness in this area interfered with additional information on the smoke extent and density. Farther to the west, smoke from the Siberian fires was also seen over a portion of the Bering Sea. 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