DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z MARCH 14, 2006
Texas: The two very large and destructive fires burning in the Texas Panhandle continue to be seen in GOES-12 imagery with moderately dense smoke heading towards the south southeast. The fires are currently burning in the counties of Roberts, Hemphill, Gray, Wheeler, Collingsworth and Donley. The smoke is stretching nearly 350 km long across the counties of Hall, Childress, Hardeman, Cottle, Foard, Knox, Hashell, Baylor, Throckmorton, Young, Archer, Shackelford and Stephens counties in Texas. In Oklahoma the counties of Harmon, Greer, Beckham and Jackson are also seeing moderately dense smoke moving through their region. A pretty large fire in the counties of Childress and Cottle is producing moderately dense smoke that is adding to the overall smoke coverage across north Texas. An area of moderately dense smoke about 225 km long and 75 km wide just south of Dallas-Fort Worth and northwest of Houston and spreading over the Waco metro area is most likely attributed to the two very large fires burning in the Texas Panhandle. The counties where smoke can be seen in satellite imagery include the following; Bosque, Coryell, McLennan, Bell, Falls, Robertson, Milam, Williamson, Burleson, Lee and Brazos. A fire in northeast Texas in the county of Delta is emitting a thin line of smoke that stretches across the counties of Wood, Franklin, Hopkins, Upshur and Camp. Mexico: Two fires burning just south of Monterey, Mexico, one in the state of Coahuila (just north of Saltillo) and the other in Nuevo Leon are both producing areas of thick smoke moving northeast. The fire in Coahuila is producing the largest plume (around 385 km long) with smoke moving into the counties of Starr, Jim Hogg, Brooks, Hidalgo, Kenedy and Willacy in south Texas and nearing the Gulf of Mexico. J Kibler