Friday, January 6, 2006

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z January 7, 2006

Florida:
A fire continued to burn through the day in the Apalachicola National
Forest in central Liberty County of the Florida panhandle. Smoke was
visible at times through some cloudiness, spreading southeastward and
out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana/Texas:
A number of fires were detected across Texas and Louisiana during the
day. Smoke plumes were seen moving to the SSE and over the Gulf of
Mexico especially from the fires which were closer to the coast of SE
TX/S LA. The largest smoke plume was observed with the continuing fire
near the border of Brazoria and Matagorda Counties. This plume was being
blown rapidly to the SSE and had extended nearly 250 miles offshore from
its source by late afternoon. Another prominent SSE moving smoke plume was
produced by a fire close to Fort Polk in central Vernon Parish of west
central Louisiana. This particular plume had a rather dense appearance
on visible imagery.

Arizona:
Moderately dense smoke from a fire burning in the southern portion of
the Kaibab National Forest in central Coconino County of north central
Arizona was moving in a west-northwesterly direction. This area of smoke
was affecting portions of the Grand Canyon National Park, including the
Grand Canyon National Park Airport.

California:
Early in the day, a fire just south of southwestern San Diego, in extreme
NW Baja, Mexico, was producing an area of smoke that was generally
moving westward and offshore. Later in the afternoon, the residual smoke
began moving more to the north and eventually to the northeast. By late
in the day, the smoke was heading toward coastal Orange and San Diego
Counties. It is possible that this very thin residual smoke could make
its way into these counties during the evening and overnight. The hotspot
associated with this fire though is no longer visible in GOES satellite
imagery at this time.

JS

 


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.