DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z May 22, 2019
SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America/Pacific off the coast of Mexico and Central America... The continuing significant seasonal burning occurring across portions of Mexico and Central America was responsible for a huge mass of smoke covering much of southern and eastern Mexico, Central America, and stretching offshore to the south over the Pacific. The smoke also extended northward over the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico and into far southern and eastern Texas and Louisiana. Embedded areas of moderately dense smoke were noted within the larger surrounding thin density smoke and these were seen over portions of southern and eastern Mexico and Central America and offshore over the nearby part of the Pacific, as well as the southern part of the Bay of Campeche and the far western Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Canada/Western Canada/New England U.S.... Several large wildfires continued to burn across central and northern Alberta resulting in thick smoke plumes which initially moved northwest but it fanned out both towards eastern and western Canada. Eastern Canada: Smoke from wildfires moved northwest into the Northwest Territories and eventually reaching the Beaufort Sea. Smoke also fanned out east across Yukon which then turned southeast moving into northern and central British Columbia. Western Canada: Smoke from the same wildfires above also started off in Northwest Territories and then continued southeast underneath Great Slave Lake, across northeast Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and eventually reaching across to southwest Quebec. The smoke plumes continue even further southeast across New England eventually off the coast; possibly into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Rodriguez 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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/ KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire) http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke) ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov