Saturday, May 14, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z May 14, 2016

SMOKE:
Bay of Campeche/Gulf of Mexico/Texas:
Thin smoke associated with the ongoing seasonal burning in portions
of southeastern Mexico and Central America was visible over the Bay of
Campeche extending north across the western Gulf of Mexico.

Canadian Maritimes:
A band of thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen over the Gulf of
St. Lawrence this morning extending southeast across parts of Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland. This smoke had originated mostly from the
Ft. McMurray wildfire.

Western and Central Canada/North Central and Central US:
Significant smoke continued to emanate from the wildfire located
near Ft. McMurray in eastern Alberta with moderately dense to dense
smoke extending southward over portions of southern Alberta and western
Saskatchewan to near the Montana/North Dakota border. Thinner smoke from
this fire extended much farther to the southeast across the north central
and central US reaching as far as Illinois/Indiana/Missouri. Thin smoke
from Siberian fires may also be mixed in with the Ft. McMurray fire
smoke over northern parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Alaska/North Pacific:
Areas of mostly thin density smoke were seen over the western and northern
periphery of Alaska again this morning. The smoke extended from the
Bering Sea and across far western Alaska before curling to the east
across the north slope to just north of the Yukon Territory. Another
surge of smoke was seen crossing the Pacific along between 40-50N and
roughly 145-155W. All of this smoke originated from large fires burning
in eastern Siberia.

DUST:
East Coast:
An area of elevated dust possibly mixed with some smoke from Southeast US
fires could be seen moving east/northeast off the coast of the Southeast
US. The dust may have originated from northern Mexico/southern US Plains
a few days ago.

Gulf of Alaska:
Aerosol moving northwest along the Canadian West Coast through the Gulf of
Alaska is thought to be remnant Asian dust. Smoke from fires in western
Canada may also be mixed in.

Sheffler

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.