Saturday, May 21, 2016

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 22, 2016

SMOKE:
A large area of thin to moderate density smoke covered much of Canada from
British Columbia extending east to towards western Quebec.  From there
the smoke extends south towards Kentucky west to Missouri.  Another area
of smoke was over Nova Scotia and New Foundland that extended southeast
into the Northwest Atlantic.  The source of the majority of this smoke
is the fires near Fort McMurray.  An area of smoke also covered much of
the Western Gulf of Mexico and extended north into the Southern Plains.
The source of this smoke was fire activity over Mexico.  Over portions of
the Northeast Pacific, an area of smoke was moving east towards portions
of British Columbia.  The source of this was fire activity over Siberia.

DUST:
Southwest:
An area of blowing dust was observed from portions of southwest Colorado
and southeast Utah extending southwest towards Arizona and southern
California and far northwest Mexico.

Hanna

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.