Thursday, May 30, 2019

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z May 31, 2019

SMOKE:
Western Canada/South Central Canada/Southeastern Canada/Northern Tier
of the U.S./Central U.S...
Large complex wildfires are continuing to burn especially over Northern
Alberta Province and also over the southeast Yukon and northern British
Columbia. Smoke has been transported very large distances from this
fire activity with varying density smoke visible stretching from the
southeast part of the Yukon and southern part of the Northwest Territories
southeastward over much of Western and Central Canada and eventually
narrowing and thinning out farther to the east over Southeastern Canada
and off the Southeast coast of Canada. The smoke also was seen stretching
from Washington eastward over the entire northern tier of U.S. states
to Maine. Farther to the south, smoke was visible wrapping southward and
eventually eastward around low pressure over the Central U.S. The thickest
smoke was present over much of Alberta, and the central and southern
portions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Rather thick smoke was also seen
over Ontario and over the Dakotas, Nebraska, northern and central Kansas,
the northern half of Iowa, Wisconsin, and much of Michigan.

California...
What were believed to be possible leftover thin density patches of smoke
attributed to the Alberta Canada wildfires were visible over interior
portions of central and south central California.

Mexico/Central America/Gulf of Mexico/Texas/Pacific off the coast of
Mexico...
The combination of seasonal fires and some wildfires continue scattered
across portions of Mexico and Central America resulting in smoke of mainly
thin density affecting much of central, eastern, and southeastern Mexico,
the northern part of Central America, the Bay of Campeche, the western
Gulf of Mexico, and roughly the southern half of Texas. The smoke also
extended to the south and off the southern coast of Mexico and Central
America. Moderately dense to thick smoke was noted over  a portion of
southeastern Mexico, and along and off the southern coast of Mexico,
as well as closer to some of the more significant fire activity.

Southeast US...
A few fires were still producing visible smoke over the Florida Peninsula
and southeastern Georgia with the smoke generally moving to the north and
northeast. A larger area of thin density smoke was present along coastal
portions of northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia extending to the
northeast over far eastern South Carolina and eastern North Carolina and
eastward from there out over the open Atlantic. This smoke was believed
to be a combination of smoke from fires in the Southeastern U.S. and
residual smoke from the fires over Mexico and Central America with the
smoke being trapped under an upper level ridge axis.

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/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

 


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.