Forest Fires in Canada: 5 May 1999
5 May 1999
Several active fire signals and smoke plumes are recorded by OSEI on 4 May 1999. Several wildfires were reported for Ontario (Canada) and Michigan (Northern United States).
Fig.1. NOAA image of the vegetation fires in Ontario and Michigan, on 4 May 1999
(Source: NOAA http://www.osei.noaa.gov/)
Figure1. shows heat signatures, some of them quite large, and smoke plumes from areas of fire in Ontario and one area in Michigan. The fires to the south of Lake Nipigon continue to expand.
Fig.2. NOAA image of the fires extending from Ontario, Canada, over the United States to Central America on 4 May 1999
(Source: NOAA http://www.osei.noaa.gov/)
South of the large thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast is a brown, hazy area which is smoke from fires in Mexico and Central America. The southerly flow, which is fueling the developing storms by carrying low-level moisture off the Gulf of Mexico, is also transporting smoke from the central Gulf of Mexico over the Gulf Coast states. Finally, notice the yellow cone-shaped areas north of the Great Lakes in Ontario, Canada. These are dense plumes of smoke extending to the north from areas of fire burning in this region (Fig. 2).
The information of the OSEI satallite images can be underlined by news, that in northern Ontario, a huge forest fire has forced the evacuation of about 300 residents from the town of Beardmore located on the southeast shore of Lake Nipigon. This fire spread rapidly since it first began on Sunday. High winds and a lack of rain supported the spread of the fire.
In the past two weeks about 54 fires in Ontario and 65 fires in Manitoba started Canadas forest fire season.
The weather conditions of sunny and dry weather is driving up the forest fire index, which could worsen the conditions on the east coast.
The information flow to the GFMC was kindly supported by John Anderson, Calgary.
