DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1725Z May 29, 2024
SMOKE: Canada/Central and Eastern United States/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, however, 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. Several fires in South Carolina and Georgia were seen emitting light density plumes, which were dispersing eastward in direction towards the Atlantic Ocean. New Mexico... Two wildfires located in north-central and south-central New Mexico continue to burn 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. AEROSOL/SMOKE: Gulf of Mexico/Yucatan Peninsula/Caribbean Sea/Central and Southern Mexico/Central America/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 this morning from the Gulf of Mexico, extending northeast through Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean, where it continued moving north along the entire east coast of the United States. From the Gulf of Mexico, the large area of aerosol/smoke continued expanding through the western Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Jamaica, central and 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 and the Gulf of Mexico. Aerosols from a composite of volcanic emissions and industrial sources in Mexico, and gas flaring activity in the southwest region of the Gulf of Mexico 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