DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1900Z January 2, 2006
Southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley/Tennessee Valley/Ohio Valley: Morning visible imagery showed a large area of what appears to be mostly leftover blowing dust/sand possibly combined with some smoke from yesterday's fires and blowing dust/sand event which originated from far eastern New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. This morning, the leftover area extended from eastern Texas across much of Louisiana and Mississippi, then northeastward from there over western Tennessee, western Kentucky to eastern Illinois and western Indiana. Winds wrapping around a low pressure system moving from Missouri into Illinois were responsible for blowing the smoke/blowing dust/sand northeastward and northward from the southern Plains. Texas/Oklahoma: A few southeastward moving smoke plumes were noted this morning from fires in western and central Texas located over Sterling, Irion, Reagan, Eastland, and Erath Counties. Across south central and southeastern Oklahoma, southeastward moving smoke plumes were detected from fires in Pittsburg, Coal, and Murray Counties. Florida: Numerous fires across Palm Beach County to the south and southeast of Lake Okeechobee , which were believed to primarily be brief agricultural burns, were responsible for small smoke plumes that had spread north-northeastward across Lake Okeechobee and Martin County. JS