Saturday, May 18, 2024

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1550Z May 18, 2024

SMOKE:
Canada and the North Atlantic Ocean….
Numerous wildfires located throughout portions of Canada from the
western 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 area of smoke ranging from light to
localized moderate density covered a majority of Canada, extending from
the western part of the Yukon and northeast British Columbia across much
of northern Canada and regions near the North Pole and then extending
southeast through portions of Quebec and southeast Canada and then across
much of the North Atlantic Ocean to just off the coast of western Europe.
The highest density smoke was seen over portions of northwest Alberta,
northeast British Columbia and the southern Northwest Territories.

Central United States...
An area of light density smoke was seen over portions of the Upper
Midwest of the United States extending southwest into portions of the
South Central United States.  This smoke is likely a combination of the
fire activity over Canada and also with fire activity over the Central
United States.

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 to moderate 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, southeastern 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.

Hanna

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