DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0103Z May 23,2023
SMOKE: United States, Canada and the Atlantic Ocean extending well off the East Coast of United States and Canada... An exceptionally large area of smoke, emanating from the large wildfires occurring mainly in northeastern British Columbia, central and northern Alberta, central and northern Saskatchewan, and the southern part of the Northwest Territories, continues to impact significant portions of Canada, the United States, and extending off the east coast of the United States and into the North Atlantic Ocean. Very thick density smoke blanketed a sizable part of western and south central Canada. The very thick smoke also extended down into the United States over the Northern Plains. This thicker smoke extended from there to the east over the Upper Midwest and into parts of the Northeastern United States and offshore the southern coast of New England. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southern U.S/Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America... An extensive area of thin to moderate density smoke linked mainly to the ongoing widespread burning season along with a few wildfires in Mexico and northwestern Central America was detected over most of Mexico, all of northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south and southwest off coast of Mexico, Northwest Central America, and most of 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 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