Saturday, May 3rd, 2025

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z May 3rd, 2025

SMOKE:

Northwestern United States/British Columbia...
A thin and elongated layer of smoke likely associated with long-range
transport from wildfires in Asia was observed this morning approaching
the coastline of Northern California, Oregon and Washington states,
and extending into Southeastern and Central British Columbia.

Southern Canada/US Midwest...
A area of light remnant smoke from previous day fires in Washington,
Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Northern Alberta could be seen moving
eastward over Eastern Alberta, Central Saskatchewan, Southern Manitoba,
and extending to the south into the Eastern Dakotas, Western Minnesota
and Iowa, and Eastern Nebraska and Kansas.

Southern New Mexico/Central-Southern Texas/Northern-Central Mexico...
A large area of light smoke extended from Central Mexico to Texas and
Southern New Mexico as a result of widespread fire activity across most
of Mexico. The smoke was  particularly concentrated over the state of
Veracruz in Central Mexico, overlapping with another large area of mixed
aerosols and smoke described below.

AEROSOL/SMOKE:
Central and Southern Mexico/Gulf of America/Bay of Campeche/Pacific
Ocean...
An area of light density smoke/aerosol attributed to widespread seasonal
fire activity, volcanic emissions, and industrial sources throughout
Central and Southern Mexico was observed today over the coastline of
Southern Mexico. The combination continued to extend west into the Pacific
Ocean off the coast of southwestern Mexico and Central America. The
combination of  smoke and aerosols progressed northward along the eastern
coastline of Mexico into southern Texas and east into the Gulf of America.

WS

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

 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.