DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 17, 2016
SMOKE: South and Central Canada/Northern Plains: A pronounced amount of heavy density smoke continues to be emitted from the wildfires near Fort McMurray with southwesterly flow helping spread the wildfire and smoke quickly to the northeast. Wildfires in northeastern British Columbia along the border of Alberta/British Columbia were producing medium density smoke in the early afternoon although clouds moving in from the southwest obscured the identification of smoke in the evening hours. Remnant light to medium density smoke was observed over much of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the southern portions of the Northwest Territories, western Ontario, western Hudson Bay and the Northern Plains. This expansive area of residual smoke was produced by the aforementioned wildfires in northeast Alberta and northeast British Columbia. Clouds limited the ability to detect smoke in the Midwest and northeast but the vast majority of the residual smoke has been rotating clockwise around a high pressure system located in southern Manitoba. Western Gulf of Mexico: An area of light density residual smoke likely from Central American seasonal burning was observed in western Gulf of Mexico. Cloud cover obscured the eastern extent of this area of residual smoke. DUST: New Mexico/Texas: A stream of light to medium density blowing dust/sand was observed in far northern Chihuahua Mexico moving east-northeast into far west Texas and southeast New Mexico. -Cronin 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