DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1550Z May 21, 2024
SMOKE: Canada and the North Atlantic Ocean…. Numerous wildfires located throughout portions of Canada from the western part of the Northwest Territories and northeast British Columbia to the central regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were engulfed with heavy cloud cover, with only the large wildfires located in northeastern Columbia being visible in satellite imagery. Due to the large amount of ongoing wildfires and recently developed ones throughout these areas over the last few days, a large area of remnant to light density smoke covered a majority of Canada, extending from the the Yukon, across the majority of Canada and regions near the North Pole, as well as crossing into the North Atlantic Ocean. Central and Eastern United States... An area of light density smoke was seen throughout the Upper Midwest region of the United States where it combined with the Canadian smoke and further extended southeast over most of the eastern United States. In the south-central region of the United States the large area of combined smoke began to mix with the second large area of Mexican and Central American smoke. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Southwest Atlantic Ocean/Southeastern United States/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean Islands/Central and Southern Mexico/Central America/Eastern Pacific Ocean... A large area of predominantly light density smoke attributed to widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central and southern Mexico and Central America was observed today from portions of the southwest Atlantic Ocean and western Caribbean Islands extending west and southwest through portions of the Southeastern and Gulf Coastal States of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, central and southern Mexico, northwestern Central America and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Moderate to thick density smoke within this area was located over the far western Caribbean Sea, northwestern Central America, southern Mexico and the Bay of Campeche. Aerosols from volcanic emissions, industrial sources in Mexico and gas flaring activity in the southwest Gulf of Mexico were also likely associated with the southern portions of this expansive area of aerosol/smoke observed throughout these regions today. Nguyen 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