DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z May 21, 2016
SMOKE: South Central to Southeastern Canada/North Central to Northeastern US: Cloud cover over portions of western Canada limited 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 wildfires in Alberta near Ft. McMurray and just over the border in Saskatchewan. This smoke of varying density including significant patches of moderately dense smoke extended eastward across portions of south central and southeastern Canada as well as portions of the north central and northern Maine with the thickest smoke over the US detected over eastern North Dakota, southeast Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Lake Superior, Illinois, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The smoke also extended offshore of southeastern Canada and the northeastern US over the Atlantic. Bay of Campeche/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. 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 far southern Texas. Additional thin smoke is seen moving northward from Cuba towards southern Florida. Northern and Northwest Canada/Northern Alaska/Beaufort and Chukchi Seas: Thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen this morning extending southeastward across far northern Canada from north of Alaska to northern Hudson Bay. Dense smoke was also evident over northwest Nunavut. Clouds were obscuring the view beyond central Hudson Bay. The smoke also could be seen over much of the Northwest Territories extending south into northeast British Columbia/northwest Alberta. This smoke is mostly from Asian wildfires. Southwest Alaska/Aleutians/Gulf of Alaska: Smoke from fires in Asia has drifted east across the far north Pacific and could be seen where there wherever clouds were not present over southwest Alaska and in the western Gulf of Alaska. Southwest British Columbia: A small patch of thin remnant smoke was seen moving southward along the coast of southwestern British Columbia. It is believed to be smoke from the Ft. McMurray wildfire that had wrapped southwestward. DUST: Nevada/Utah: An area of aerosol moving through northeast Nevada and into northwest Utah is likely elevated dust. This dust was observed in last night's analysis coming from sources in western Nevada. 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