DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z May 16, 2016
SMOKE: Northwest/Central Canada into North Central US/Great Lakes/Ohio Valley/Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US Coast/Nova Scotia: An impressive area of smoke spans from northeastern British Columbia and the southern portions of the Northwest Territories southeast towards the Northern Plains through the Ohio valley, Mid-Atlantic and finally off the northeast coast to just south of Nova Scotia. The optical thickness of the smoke became thinner as the smoke traveled away from the initial wildfire point sources in northeastern British Columbia along the Alberta Border and northeastern Alberta where the ongoing wildfires are still occurring near Fort McMurray. Moderate and heavy density residual smoke could be seen rotating clockwise around a high pressure system in south central Canada while the aforementioned wildfires continue to produce heavy density smoke plumes which are mostly traveling to the northeast except for Fort McMurray where it is stationary due to weak winds. Another smaller area of moderate density smoke could be seen along the Virginia and North Carolina border moving eastward. 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: 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. -Cronin/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