DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 23, 2016

SMOKE:
North Central States south to the Western Gulf of Mexico:
A large area of remnant thin smoke extended from the Western Gulf of
Mexico north through the Southern Plains States and extended north into
the Northern Plains and southern Manitoba.  The source region of this
smoke is fire activity over Mexico.

South Central to Southeast Canada/North Central US extending to the
Southeast US:
An expansive area of thin to moderate density smoke covered much of
southern Canada from Ontario eastward across James Bay/Quebec/southern
Labrador/Newfoundland.  The smoke extends south from Canada through the
western Great Lakes to as far south as Alabama and Georgia and then
extending east towards the Carolinas.  The source of the majority of
this smoke is the fires near Fort McMurray.

Northwest Canada/Alaska/British Columbia:
An area of smoke stretched across the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska
southeast across northwestern Canada to Hudson Bay. While much of this
smoke is from wildfires in Siberia, the smoke that is inland over British
Columbia is more than likely from fires near Ft. McMurray, Alberta.

DUST:
Southern California/Baja/Gulf of California:
Aerosol was seen over portions of the Southwest extending from Utah and
Colorado southwest to Arizona and southern California.  It is believed
that this is a mixture of blowing dust and also remnant smoke from the
Fort McMurray fire over portions of Alberta.

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.