DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2350Z May 15, 2021
SMOKE:
North Central and Northeastern U.S./South Central and Southeastern
Canada…
A sizable higher altitude plume of remnant light density smoke from
recent fire activity across the north-central U.S. and south-central
Canada has converged over the Dakotas and Minnesota, southern Ontario
and Quebec, and the central-eastern Great Lakes region. The plume is
seen moving east toward New England and the northwestern Atlantic. A
pocket of moderate-density smoke could be seen embedded in the larger
plume around Lake Ontario.
Mexico/Pacific south of Mexico…
A second large plume originating from widespread agricultural fires in
Mexico and Central America was seen covering much of western coast of
Mexico south of Sinaloa state and into Guatemala, extending westward
for as far as 700 miles over the Pacific ocean. The plume remains mostly
stagnant with little horizontal displacement.
DUST:
Eastern Caribbean Islands…
A large area of Saharan dust continues to spread westward across the
tropical Atlantic and over the eastern Caribbean Islands and up to
Puerto Rico.
WS
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