DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE
IMAGERY THROUGH 0300, May 20, 2018.
SMOKE: Southern New Mexico and Western Texas... Fires located across northern Mexico and southern New Mexico have been producing thick smoke this afternoon. This smoke has made its way east-northeast into west Texas and southern New Mexico. Central California... A fire on what appears to be either Browns Island or Winter Island just east of the San Francisco Bay area has been emitting light smoke for much of the day. This smoke was observed moving eastward across the San Joaquin Valley and into the central Sierras. Southern California... Burns across the agricultural areas south of the Salton Sea produced a few puffs of smoke this afternoon. This smoke was generally moving toward the north. South Central Canada... From central Alberta into western Ontario, many burns were observed emitting mainly light smoke. However, two fires in central Saskatchewan were observed emitting thick smoke this afternoon. This smoke was generally moving off toward the east-southeast. BLOWING DUST: Western Texas Panhandle... Along with the smoke mentioned above, some blowing dust was observed moving from north-central Chihuahua into the West Texas Panhandle. Southern California... A few of the valleys in southern California were seen producing blowing dust later this afternoon. Some of this dust was likely mixing in with the smoke observed in southern California. OTHER AEROSOL: Central Alaksa... Across central Alaska near Delta Junction and Allen Army Airfield (PABI), satellites captured what appears to be an aerosol of glacial origin blowing north from the Alaska Range. Hosley 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