Tuesday, May 15, 2024

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0116Z May 16, 2024

SMOKE:
Canada/North Central and Northeastern United States/Greenland/Atlantic
Ocean...
Numerous large wildfires located throughout portions of Canada from
the southern regions of the Northwest Territories and northeast British
Columbia to the central regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
continued to burn and today. Due to the large amount of ongoing wildfires
and recently developed ones throughout these areas, a very large mass
of smoke ranging from light to thick density covered a majority Canada
reaching into northern Nunavut where it continued east and south over
most of Quebec, the Labrador sea and through southern Greenland. The
smoke extending south and east along the Canadian and U.S. border, the
smoke continued moving south and eastward through the north-central
and northeastern regions of the United states. The thickest density
smoke continues to be seen surrounding the larger fires located in the
northeast corner of British Columbia, north-central Alberta, eastern
Alberta, east-central Saskatchewan and west-central Manitoba. Areas of
moderate smoke were also seen covering portions of north-central Canada,
north-central U.S. and the Great Lakes regions, however, a large amount of
cloud cover throughout these regions are most likely concealing thicker
density smoke.

United States Pacific Northwest...
Fire activity was observed throughout the US Pacific Northwest. Two
mostly light density smoke plumes were seen in western Oregon and
southern Washington this evening. The smoke was generally  moving south
in direction through the region.


AEROSOL/SMOKE:
Central-Southern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Florida/Atlantic
ocean/Cuba/Jamaica/Central America/Pacific Ocean...
A large area of predominantly light and moderate density smoke attributed
to widespread seasonal fire activity throughout central and southern
Mexico, Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula was observed extending
from the Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula through central-southern
Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Central America and into the Pacific Ocean off the
southern coastline of Mexico. The smoke also continues east from the Gulf
through Florida and out into the Atlantic ocean. Areas of higher density
smoke and aerosols were observed over southern Mexico, northern Central
America 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.


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