DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 20, 2016
SMOKE: South Central and Southeast Canada/Northern Central and Northeast US: An expansive area of moderately dense to dense residual smoke from the Alberta and Saskatchewan wildfires is visible throughout southeast Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba stretching southward across the North Central US and east across much of southern Canada stretching as far as southern Labrador. Thinner smoke from these wildfires extends as far south as Kentucky and a plume of thin smoke even reaches southeast from Lake Michigan across the Ohio Valley, southern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, north Virginia, Maryland, DC, Delaware, New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and southeast Massachusetts. Texas Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche: A significant amount of thin to moderately dense smoke was present over portions of the Mexican coast, the Bay of Campeche, and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico becoming mostly thin across central and northern portions of the Gulf. Much of this smoke is from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America. In addition, some thin smoke could be seen moving northwest from western Cuba. DUST: Dakotas: A small patch of aerosol that is thought to be elevated dust could be seen moving eastward across western South Dakota and southwest North Dakota towards the expansive area of remnant smoke. The source of this dust is not known. Southern California: A plume of dust can be seen moving southeastward with southern California along the advancing cold front moving through the state. This dust is thought to have Asian origins. British Columbia Coast: Aerosol thought to be dust is seen along the west coast of British Columbia moving southward. This dust is believed to be from Asia having previous been transported northeast across Alaska before wrapping back to the south. Northeast Alaska/Northern Yukon Territory: Asian dust and possibly other aerosol which may include remnant smoke from Canadian wildfires can be seen drifting slowly east across northeast Alaska, northern Yukon Territory, and the Beaufort Sea. 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