DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z APRIL 14, 2006.
Utah: Moderately dense to locally dense smoke was fanning out as it spread northeastward over central to northeastern Utah from a fire in the Fishlake National Forest in eastern Millard County of central Utah. New Mexico/Colorado/Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas: A very large fire in or close to the Sangre De Cristo Range in western Mora County of north central New Mexico which has been burning intensely since yesterday, was responsible for a very large area of smoke which covered the region stretching from NE New Mexico/SW Colorado across the western Oklahoma and northern Texas panhandle region all the way to southeastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma. The smoke was relatively thin in the eastern portion of the area but became much more dense in the area around NE New Mexico and SW Colorado. Central US: Smoke still present from yesterday's incredible number of fires especially over northern Oklahoma/eastern Kansas/southeastern Nebraska and from more activity across the same general region was responsible for the enormous area of smoke which covered a very large portion of the central of the country including the eastern portions of Kansas and Nebraska, much of Iowa and Missouri, as well as portions of Minnesota, Illinois, western Kentucky and western Tennessee, and northern Arkansas. Within this region this evening, the biggest smoke producing fires were across eastern Kansas, and near the southeastern Kansas/northeastern Oklahoma border as well as northern Arkansas. The smoke plumes were generally moving off to the north and northeast. The smoke plumes from the fires over Pope County and near the Crawford-Franklin County border region of northern Arkansas appeared very dense on satellite imagery as they moved northeastward fanning out into southern Missouri. Texas/Louisiana: Moderately dense to locally dense northward moving smoke plumes were observed from fires over Trinity, Houston, and Tyler Counties of eastern Texas as well as De Soto Parish of far western Louisiana. The smoke from the De Soto Parish fire traveled northward toward the western portion of the Shreveport metro area. Southeastern US: Scattered fires with relatively small smoke plumes were detected across the Southeastern US this afternoon and evening. Smoke from several fires across far eastern Georgia and southern South Carolina interacted with changing winds along the sea breeze boundary to create an erratic moving area of smoke across the region. JS