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