Friday, June 2, 2017

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300 June 3, 2017

SMOKE:
Central and Southern Canada/Area from the Great Lakes Region to the Mid
Atlantic and Northeast...
Swaths of leftover thin density smoke attributed to recent wildfire
activity especially over northern Alberta in western Canada and seasonal
agricultural burning primarily across southern Saskatchewan and southern
Manitoba could be seen during the day stretching from southeastern
Nunavut, western Hudson Bay, and northeastern Manitoba southward
over Ontario to the western Great Lakes Region. The smoke then spread
southeastward across Ohio and West Virginia to the Mid-Atlantic Region
and the southern portion of the Northeastern US and offshore. A narrow
separate ribbon of thin density smoke was also visible over the lower
portion of Hudson Bay and eastern to southern Ontario and across New
York State to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This was also believed to be
from the aforementioned recent fire activity over portions of Canada.

Mexico/Western and Southern Texas...
A large number of fires continued to be detected in satellite imagery
across western Mexico resulting in significant plumes of moderate to thick
density smoke which spread quickly to the northeast reaching central
Mexico. The huge area of smoke then thinned out as it moved farther to
the northeast across northern Mexico reaching at least as far north as
western and southern Texas.

DUST:
Caribbean/Yucatan Peninsula/Southern Gulf of Mexico...
The area of thin Saharan dust which had been tracked for days was no
longer visible early this evening due to widespread cloudiness covering
the Yucatan Peninsula and much of the Gulf of Mexico.

UNKNOWN AEROSOL:
South Central Canada/North Central US...
An area of thin density aerosol of unknown composition and origin could
be seen along and west of a frontal boundary stretching from southeastern
Saskatchewan southward over eastern Montana and northern Wyoming. It is
possible that some leftover smoke from recent agricultural fire activity
in south central Canada may be present along with possible blowing dust
kicked up by stronger winds behind the front though this is not certain.

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

 


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.