DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z May 31, 2016
SMOKE: Alaska/Northwestern Canada: A band of light to moderately dense smoke was visible this morning extending well to the west and off the west coast of Alaska near Nome. The smoke was emanating from the Medfra Fire in south central Alaska located about 70km east of McGrath. Arizona: Several active fires in central Arizona were emitting thin to locally moderately dense smoke which covered portions of central Arizona and extended to the southwest into southwestern Arizona with the leading edge of the smoke reaching as far as northern Baja. DUST: A swath of what is believed to be thin density dust was seen early this morning stretching from eastern Wyoming across portions of South Dakota and Nebraska and over southeastern North Dakota to near the Minnesota border. The source of this probable dust is not known but was likely being kicked up by gusty winds wrapping around the southern side of low pressure located over North Dakota. JS 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