Friday, May 17, 2024

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1000Z May 18, 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 despite being concealed by persistent cloud cover
throughout the day. Due to the large amount of ongoing wildfires and
recently developed ones throughout these areas, a large mass of smoke
ranging from light to thick density covered a majority Canada, extending
from the western part of the Northwest Territories into central Nunavut
where it continued southeastward into Manitoba. 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 areas northeast of Quebec, extending into southern
Greenland. A large amount of cloud cover throughout these regions did
not allow for further smoke analysis this evening.

United States Pacific Northwest...
Fire activity was observed throughout the US Pacific Northwest. Several
light to density smoke plumes were seen in southern Oregon and one
moderate density plume was also seen in the northeastern corner of
California.

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.

Willkens

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