DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z May 19,2023
SMOKE: Northern Half of U.S./Canada... Many large wildfires across northeastern British Columbia, central and northern Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan continue to spread a huge plume of smoke across much of Canada and the northern half of the U.S. Thin density smoke was detected over southeastern Yukon, southern Nunavut/Northwest Territories, eastern British Columbia, all of Alberta/Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, and far northwestern Ontario. Just about all the northern half of the U.S was covered with thin density smoke. Moderate density smoke was found over the southern Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia, all of Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan/Manitoba. In the U.S, moderate density smoke was found over the Northern Rockies, parts of the Northern Plains, the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes, southern Quebec, and northern New England. A large plume of heavy density smoke was detected over far northern British Columbia, most of Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, and northwestern Manitoba. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Gulf of Mexico/Mexico/Central America... An extensive area of thin density smoke linked mainly to the ongoing widespread burning season along with a few wildfires in Mexico and northwestern Central America was detected over much of eastern and central Mexico, all of northwestern Central America, the Pacific Ocean well south and southwest of the southern coast of Mexico and Northwest Central America, the western Gulf of Mexico, and coastal Texas/Louisiana. Within this large mass of thin density smoke was an area of moderate density smoke which detected over south-central Mexico. While the majority of what was detected on satellite imagery was believed to be smoke, some aerosols from industrial activity mainly in Mexico and Central America may be mixing in. Konon 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