DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0400Z May 26, 2016
Central Canada/Northwest US: The Fort McMurray fires continues to emit large amounts of moderately dense to dense smoke which is moving to the east and southeast. Thin to moderately dense smoke from these ongoing wildfires stretches from Alberta southward into northern Montana and eastward across central Canada to the southwest edge of Hudson Bay. Northeast US/North Atlantic/Nova Scotia: Several areas of mostly thin smoke was located over/off the Northeast US coast extending westward across New York to Lake Ontario. Additional smoke was present over Nova Scotia and southeast of there over the North Atlantic. The origin of this smoke is difficult to ascertain due to several possible sources including: wildfires in Arizona, the Fort McMurray wildfires in Canada, and Siberian wildfire smoke that had wrapped southeast across Canada over the past week. Bay of Campeche/Western Gulf/Central US: An extensive area of thin to moderately dense smoke could be seen from southeast Mexico northward through the western Gulf and then from north Texas northward to Iowa/Minnesota/Wisconsin. Fires in Central America/Mexico have contributed to the majority of this smoke with more recent wildfires in northwest Mexico and Arizona possibly having added in additional remnant smoke. Southeast Alaska: Aerosol present along the southeast Alaskan coast is thought to be remnant Asian smoke. The smoke was thin to moderately dense and was moving southward. Eastern Gulf: Aerosol moving westward across the Florida Straits and into the Central Gulf of Mexico is believed to be dust, likely with an origin of the Sahara Desert in Africa. West US Coast/Western and Northwestern Canada: Aerosol that is observed stretching inland across extreme northwest California, western Oregon, western Washington, southwest to east central British Columbia, western/northwest Alberta, and the central Northwest Territories is believed to be elevated Asian dust. This feature was optically thick especially over the Oregon/Washington/British Columbia and was starting to mix with some of the Fort McMurray smoke over parts of Alberta. There may be other smoke from Asia that still exists within the aerosol mix over far northwest Canada. Southwest and Central US/North and Northwest Mexico: An extensive area of elevated dust could be seen stretching inland from the East Pacific across Baja, the Gulf of California, northwest Mexico, southeast California, Arizona, western Ne Mexico, southeast Utah, and Colorado. Some hint of the aerosol could even be seen stretched further northeast from Colorado across northwest Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota. While the majority of this dust has Asian origins, it is likely that some additional southwest US/northwest Mexico dust is being elevated as well. Additionally, a separate area of blowing sand/dust could be seen just west of El Paso, TX moving east-northeast across far western Texas. Some very light dust may be present downstream from this blowing dust event across the Texas Panhandle. -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