DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z MAY 23, 2020
SMOKE:
Southeastern Colorado/Southwestern Kansas…
A large fire in southeastern Colorado produced smoke of moderate to
thick density which fanned out to the north and east impacting portions
of southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas.
Northern North Dakota/South Central Canada…
Scattered seasonal fires were detected in northern North Dakota, and
southeastern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba of south central
Canada which resulted in a number of thin to locally moderate density
smoke plumes which moved generally to the north. The most significant
smoke coverage was over southern, southwestern, and western Manitoba.
South Central U.S./Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America/Pacific south
of Mexico and Central America…
Ongoing significant seasonal burning occurring in portions of Mexico
and Central America was responsible for a huge area of smoke which
covered much of southern, southeastern, and eastern Mexico, the Bay
of Campeche, the western Gulf of Mexico, the South Central U.S., and
the Pacific south of Mexico. The thickest smoke was seen over southern
Mexico south of Mexico City and over the Pacific off the southern coast
of Mexico. Thinner density smoke extended to the north over the western
Gulf of Mexico and the South Central U.S. including a good portion of
Texas, southern Oklahoma, western Louisiana, and southwestern Arkansas. A
smaller patch of thin density smoke was also visible a bit farther to
the east over the north central Gulf of Mexico close to the coast of
southern Alabama and the western Florida panhandle.
DUST:
Nevada/California…
A rather thick patch of blowing dust was visible emanating from sources
in southwestern Nevada and moving to the south across the border into
California near Death Valley National Park.
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