DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 25, 2016
SMOKE: North Pacific/Alaska: An area of light density remnant smoke was observed in the North Pacific and southern Alaska moving to the southeast. This area of remnant smoke is likely from fire activity in Asia. Central Canada: An area of light to moderate density residual smoke from the Fort McMurray wildfire in northeastern Alberta was advected to southern Alberta from the counterclockwise rotation of a low pressure system in south-central Saskatchewan. This area of residual smoke also stretched along a deformation zone helping to disperse this remnant smoke to east into northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba and far northwest Ontario. The Fort McMurray wildfire currently has numerous heavy density smoke plumes which amalgamated into an area of moderate to heavy density smoke that is traveling towards the northeast. Northern Plains: An area of light density remnant smoke was seen over the Northern Plains moving to the northeast. This area of smoke likely originated from fire activity throughout Arizona. Mid-Atlantic Coast: An area of light density remnant smoke associated with wildfires in Canada was seen near the Mid-Atlantic Coastline moving east. Eastern Canada: An area of light density remnant smoke associated with wildfires in Canada was seen in Eastern Canada moving east into the Northeast US. Clouds to the west obscured the full extent of this area of remnant smoke. Gulf of Mexico: Extensive seasonal burning in Central America created an area of light density residual smoke which was seen over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico moving to the northwest. The full extent of this smoke was unable to be determined due to extensive cloud cover in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and Texas. DUST: US Southwest: An optically thin unknown aerosol spanned a large area from the eastern Pacific Ocean into southern California and Baja California across the Gulf of California into Arizona, northwest New Mexico and southwest Colorado. This aerosol could possibly be a mix between remnant smoke and elevated dust transported across the Pacific from Asia. -Cronin 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