DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 15, 2016
SMOKE: Northwest/Central Canada into North Central US/Great Lakes/Ohio Valley: An extensive area of smoke stretches from the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories southeast through Central Canada across the Northern Plains, Midwest, western Great Lakes, and Ohio Valley. A portion of this smoke also wrapped north along the western edge of Hudson Bay. Within this area of smoke a large area of moderate to very dense smoke covered east/southeast Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba extending further south across the Dakotas. Much of this smoke is from the ongoing wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Moderately dense to dense smoke was also seen over northeast British Columbia and far northwest Alberta coming from fires in northeast B.C. Northeast US Coast/Nova Scotia: Thin remnant smoke can be seen along the back edge of a frontal boundary and beneath the upper low that is moving off the coast of the Northeast US. This smoke is believed to be from the wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Alaska: An area of thin smoke was observed over north and northwest Alaska with another small patch of smoke seen along the southern Alaska coast. The source of this smoke appears to be wildfire activity in Siberia. Additional smoke may be wrapped up in the approaching upper low over the Pacific. Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche: An area of thin to moderately dense smoke is present in the Bay of Campeche stretching northwest to far southern Texas. Fires in Mexico are the source of this smoke. Some remnant smoke may also be present in the aerosol seen over central/eastern portions of the Gulf and across Florida/northern Bahamas. DUST: Florida/Southeast US: Aerosol seen across Florida and off the Southeast US coast is thought to be a mix of elevated dust and possibly some smoke from fires in Mexico. Gulf of Alaska: In addition to previously mentioned patch of thin smoke near the southern Alaska coastline, a general hazy look in the Gulf of Alaska and down the southeast coast of the state is attributed to Asian dust. 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