DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z MAY 25, 2020
SMOKE:
Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/Northern Central America…
Fire activity remains widespread across western, southern, and eastern
Mexico into Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The resulting area of
smoke produced by this fire activity from the past few days expands
from southern Texas into El Salvador and across the Yucatan Channel. The
smoke is being incorporated within a trough over Florida, western Cuba,
and the Isle of Youth, while separate system over the northwestern Gulf of
Mexico is helping to move some of this smoke into northeastern Mexico and
far southern Texas. The densest smoke resides across the Mexican state of
Guerrero, where intense fire activity is emitting thick smoke. A couple
other fires scattered throughout Mexico are also producing thick smoke,
with larger areas of moderate density smoke over the Bay of Campeche
and the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz.
South-central Canada and the Valley of the Red River of the North…
Fire activity throughout southern and central Saskatchewan into western
Alberta was observed producing light to moderate density smoke this
afternoon. Even though some smoke was analyzed, given the scattered
cloud cover over the region, more smoke is likely present that could
not be analyzed. The same is true for the fire activity along the North
Dakota and Minnesota border. The observed smoke was moving in different
directions due to relatively small surface pressure features across the
region and with the region residing between two larger troughs/cyclones.
Maritime Canada…
Two fires in Maritime Canada, one in New Brunswick and the other in Nova
Scotia, were observed producing moderate to thick smoke this afternoon and
evening. The smoke from these fires was moving off toward the northeast
Dust:
A large area of lofted Saharan dust was observed moving westward and
west-northwestward across the Caribbean Sea and into a trough over
Florida and the western Caribbean.
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/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