DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z May 17, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/North Central and Northeastern United States/Greenland/Atlantic Ocean... A few large wildfires located throughout northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta continued to burn despite being concealed by persistent cloud cover. Due to the large amount of cloud cover throughout Canada, no further smoke was visible through satellite imagery except for the portion seen over Greenland. United States Pacific Northwest... Fire activity was observed throughout the US Pacific Northwest. Several light density smoke plumes were seen in southern Oregon emitting eastward. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Central-Southern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Central America/Yucatan Peninsula/Florida/Atlantic Ocean/Cuba/Jamaica/Pacific Ocean... A large area of predominantly light to moderate density smoke attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central-southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America was observed today from the Gulf of Mexico, northeast through Florida and extending east into the northern Atlantic Ocean. The large area of aerosol/smoke continued expanding south through central-southern Mexico, Central America and into the Pacific Ocean off the southwest coastline of Mexico. Areas of higher density smoke and aerosols were observed over northern Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico. Aerosols from a composite of volcanic emissions and industrial sources in Mexico, and gas flaring activity in the Bay of Campeche contributed to the expansive area of aerosol/smoke observed throughout these regions today. Rodriguez 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