Saturday, May 14, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 15, 2016

SMOKE:
Canada into the Northern Plains:
A large area of smoke covered much of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and then extended southeast through the Northern Plains and the Midwest
region.  Within this area of smoke a large area of moderate to very
dense smoke covered southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and southern
and central Manitoba towards North Dakota and northern South Dakota.
Very dense smoke was also seen near and southeast of the fire near
Fort McMurray.  The source region for most of this smoke continues to
be the fire near Fort McMurray.

Alaska:
An area of thin smoke was observed over northwest Alaska.  The source
of this smoke appears to be fire activity over Siberia.

Gulf of Mexico:
An area of thin smoke was seen over the central Gulf of Mexico extending
to near the west coast of Florida.  The source of this smoke appears as
though it is fire activity over Mexico.

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.