DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z MAY 1, 2009
Gulf of Mexico: A large mass of thin smoke was visible this morning moving northward over the Bay of Campeche and western Gulf of Mexico to just off the southeastern Texas coast. This smoke was due to the ongoing seasonal fires burning across southeastern Mexico and Central America. Another large area of mainly thin smoke was observed moving primarily to the southwest off of southern Mexico. The source region for this smoke was believed to be from seasonal fires burning in the southern portion of Mexico. Southwestern Canada/North Central US: Goes-West visible imagery early this morning showed a region of thin haze of unknown origin and composition extending from the southern portions of Alberta and Saskatchewan Provinces of southwestern Canada over central and eastern Montana to the Dakotas and northern Minnesota. JS THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov