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