DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0120Z May 16, 2022
SMOKE: Southwestern and Central-Southern U.S... The large Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon wildfires in north-central New Mexico and the Bear Trap and Black wildfires in southwestern New Mexico continued to emit significant smoke during the afternoon hours. Heavy smoke from those wildfires was dispersing toward the east impacting central and eastern New Mexico. Moderate smoke released by those same wildfires over the last several hours covered parts of southern Oklahoma, northeastern, central and southern Texas. Lighter density smoke was also seen across the entire area above while also extending into Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the northern Gulf of Mexico. Western and South Central Canada/North Central U.S… A swath of thin density aerosol likely associated with long-range transport of fire emissions from Asia was visible stretching from northern Alberta to the southeast over southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. The aerosol was also seen over northeastern Montana, North Dakota, northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and a portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Lake Superior. The plume was moving eastward toward Ontario following the higher level winds. Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Pacific South of Mexico and Central America... A very large mass of mostly light to moderate density smoke primarily from widespread seasonal fire activity in Mexico and Central America was observed over much of Mexico and the northern half of Central America. The plume extended to the north over the southern and western Gulf of Mexico, further to the west for more than 1,000 miles over the Pacific ocean. Several pockets of moderate-to-heavy density smoke could also be found across southern-southwestern Mexico, and Guatemala where there was a large concentration of active fires. Gas flaring and other urban emitters contributed additional aerosols to that large plume. 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov