DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1646Z May 20,2023
SMOKE: U.S/Canada/Atlantic Ocean Extending Well off the East Coast of U.S and Canada... An exceptionally large area of smoke of varying density from the large wildfires across northeastern British Columbia, central and northern Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan continue to expand across much of the U.S and Canada. The smoke also extended well offshore over in the northern Atlantic Ocean, with moderate smoke visible over in central Atlantic Ocean and likely spreading towards Europe. Within the large area of smoke, heavy density smoke was visible over much of the main sources from the smoke, with the smoke seen over eastern British Columbia, all of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and northern Manitoba. Moderate density smoke was seen over multiple areas, with the largest area of moderate smoke encompassing western and central Canada and the northern half of the U.S. The other area of moderate density smoke was visible over over the eastern/central Atlantic Ocean offshore of Northeast U.S and eastern Canada. Although the large wildfires within Western Canada are the main driving forces behind the large area of smoke, wildfires in western U.S was seen contributing to the overall smoke. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern U.S/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America... An extensive area of thin density smoke linked mainly to the ongoing widespread burning season along with a few wildfires in Mexico and northwestern Central America was detected over much of eastern and southern Mexico, all of northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south and southwest off coast of Mexico and Northwest Central America, and the Gulf of Mexico. This smoke extended northward towards the southern and Central U.S, where it is mingling with the larger expansive area of smoke mentioned in the “SMOKE” section prior. Within this large mass of thin density smoke was an area of moderate density smoke which was detected over south-central Mexico and Pacific Ocean offshore of southern Mexico. While the majority of what was detected on satellite imagery was believed to be smoke, some aerosols from industrial activity mainly in Mexico and Central America may be mixing in. Eglin 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