DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z May 30, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/Greenland/Atlantic Ocean... Numerous wildfires located throughout Canada from northeast British Columbia, to the Northwest Territories/Alberta border and the central regions of Alberta continue to burn today. Due to the large presence of ongoing wildfires and recently developed ones throughout these areas, a large area of smoke ranging from light to moderate density continue to cover a majority of Canada; extending from the Northwest Territories, across British Columbia, Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and regions near the North Pole. The smoke continued extending east over the Hudson Bay, into the North Atlantic Ocean, passing south of Greenland, and continuing to just off the coast of western Europe. The thickest density smoke continues to be seen in areas close to the larger wildfires, such as those located in northeast British Columbia, northwest Alberta and the Northwest Territories/Alberta border. Late this evening one of the wildfires in northeastern British Columbia began to grow very quickly and was releasing very thick smoke around the region. A significant amount of cloud cover in these regions is most likely concealing thicker density smoke, impacting further analysis. 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 area of Canadian smoke and further extended southeast over most of the United States. In this region the mass of light density smoke began to combine with the other large area of Mexican and Central American smoke, where it was seen extending east along the Gulf States before it continued north along the eastern United States and then finally dispersing into the northwest Atlantic Ocean. A significant amount of cloud cover in the eastern U.S. is most likely concealing smoke. New Mexico... Three wildfires located in north-central and south-central New Mexico continue to be detected today. The Indos Fire located in Santa Fe National Forest, in north-central New Mexico was seen emitting a very light density smoke plume that remained stagnant, while the Blue 2 Fire located in Lincoln National Forest, in south-central New Mexico was also seen emitting a light density plume that was dispersing east in direction. California... Agricultural burning in southern California was releasing light density smoke that was observed moving south remaining in the state as evening approached. Oregon... Two new fires in central and southern Oregon were observed releasing mostly light density smoke that was moving generally southeast remaining in the state as evening approached. Minnesota... A new fire in far northern Minnesota was observed releasing light to moderate density smoke that was spreading out in all directions from the source fire as the evening approached. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Southwest Atlantic Ocean, Southeastern United States, Gulf Coast States, Gulf of Mexico, Western Caribbean Islands, Central and Southern Mexico, northwestern Central America and 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. The highest density smoke within this area was located over the far western Caribbean Sea, northwestern Central America, southern Mexico and much of the western Gulf of Mexico. 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. Saharan dust: A considerable amount of Saharan dust was observed over the eastern and central Atlantic. The moderate edge of Saharan Dust was now encroaching on the Lesser Antilles. 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