DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 21, 2016
SMOKE: West Central to Southeastern Canada/North Central to Northeastern US: Cloudiness covered portions of western Canada limiting views of the active ongoing fires there. However, a large amount of smoke farther to the east and southeast was observed which was believed to be primarily from the fire in Alberta near Ft. McMurray and just over the border in Saskatchewan. This smoke of varying density including significant patches of moderately dense to thick smoke extended eastward across portions of south central and southeastern Canada as well as portions of the north central and northeastern US with the thickest smoke over the US detected over central and eastern North Dakota, Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, Lake Superior, and the western portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The smoke also extended offshore of southeastern Canada and the northeastern US over the Atlantic. Bay of Campeche/Western Gulf of Mexico/Texas: Moderately dense smoke from the ongoing seasonal burning occurring in southeastern Mexico and Central America was present over the Bay of Campeche during the day. Farther to the north, thinner density smoke possibly mixed with other aerosols was seen over the western and northwestern Gulf of Mexico with the smoke extending into at least the southern half of Texas. Northern Alaska/Arctic Ocean: A thin density aerosol which is believed to be remnant smoke from the Siberian fires was visible over far northern Alaska and the Beaufort Sea. DUST: Nevada: Just before sunset, a swath of relatively thick blowing dust could be seen on the western edge of an area of cloudiness emanating from sources in west central Nevada spreading to the east and northeast across central and north central Nevada. The cloudiness in this region did interfere with additional information on the extent of the dust. Southern California/Southwestern Arizona: A streak of moderately dense to thick blowing dust originated during the afternoon from a source primarily on the south side of the Salton Sea in southern California and moved to the east and southeast reaching southwestern Arizona just before sunset. Much thinner density blowing dust extended farther to the east over south central Arizona. JS 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