Friday, May 13, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 14, 2016

Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Texas:
Thin to moderately dense smoke associated with the ongoing seasonal
burning in portions of southeastern Mexico and Central America was
visible over the Bay of Campeche with thinner smoke across the western
Gulf of Mexico and extending northward into at least the southern half
of Texas. A band of thin density aerosol was also noted along a frontal
boundary extending farther to the east across the northern Gulf of Mexico
which may contain some residual smoke though uncertainty exists.

Southeastern Canada/Northern New England:
The persistent batch of smoke attributed to wildfires burning this
week in Canada was likely still present stretching from southeastern
Quebec across northern New England and offshore over the Atlantic though
cloudiness passing across this region this afternoon interfered with
smoke detection in satellite imagery.

Canada/North Central US:
Significant smoke continued to emanate from the wildfire located near
Ft. McMurray in eastern Alberta with moderately dense to thick smoke
extending southward over portions of eastern and southeastern Alberta and
western Saskatchewan to near the north central Montana border. Thinner
smoke from this fire extended much farther to the southeast over eastern
Montana and the western Dakotas. The smoke may extend even farther to
the south and east though cloudiness over the north central and central
US is interfering with this information from satellite imagery.

Another large area of primarily thin density smoke was seen moving to
the south and southwest from the Northwest Territories and Nanavut over
the western portion of Hudson Bay, northern Manitoba as well as northern
and central Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. This smoke was
believed to be from Siberia and has been transported to the north of
Alaska and over the polar region before spreading back to the south. Some
of this smoke has also now moved over some of the same locations affected
by smoke from the Ft. McMurray fire.

JS

Earlier This Morning...
SMOKE:
A large area of thin to moderate density smoke covered a large portion
of the Central United States extending from the Northern Plains south
towards Texas.  The smoke also extended northwest from the Northern
Plains through southwest Saskatchewan and most of Alberta to the southern
Northwest Territories.  An area of moderate to dense smoke was over much
of eastern Alberta with a source region of the fire near Fort McMurray.
Source region from the smoke further north over the Northwest Territories
appeared to be from fire activity over Siberia.  The source region from
smoke further south over Texas and the Southern Plains appeared to be
from fire activity over Mexico.

An area of thin to moderate density smoke with a source region from
fires over Alberta also extended from the Northwest Atlantic northwest
through Maine and into southern Quebec.

Hanna

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.