DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1430Z MARCH 13, 2006
Texas: Very large destructive fires continue to be observed this morning across the northern Texas panhandle. The wind direction has switched from southwesterly to northwesterly overnight which is now blowing the smoke in a southeasterly direction all the way into central Texas, just southwest of the Dallas-Ft Worth region. Morning GOES-10 imagery shows a very long stripe of moderately dense smoke which extends from the northern Texas panhandle to Childress then stretching at least 300 miles to the southeast of the actual fires. Oklahoma/NW Arkansas/Missouri/Illinois/Michigan: GOES-10 imagery combined with the lower sun angle reveals a large area of what is likely a combination of blowing dust/sand and smoke covering a good portion of central and eastern Oklahoma, northwestern Arkansas, central and southern Missouri(including the St. Louis region), central and northern Illinois(including the Chicago area), and southwestern lower Michigan. The area of blowing dust/sand/smoke is likely leftover from yesterday's fires which were concentrated across the northern Texas Panhandle and the blowing dust/sand which likely originated across eastern New Mexico and western Texas. Southwesterly winds have transported this combination of blowing dust/sand/smoke northeastward through the dry slot of the intense storm system which is currently located over northeastern Iowa. JS