Tuesday, April 25, 2006

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z APRIL 26, 2006.

Minnesota/North Dakota/Manitoba/Saskatchewan:
This area contains numerous agricultural burns, some of which have light
to moderately dense but generally narrow smoke plumes.  In North Dakota,
the plumes extend eastward or southeastward with particularly large
plumes originating from fires in Richland County, northeastern McHenry
County, and near the tri-county intersection of Ramsey, Walsh and Cavalier
Counties.  The fires in Minnesota are producing small southerly plumes.
The fires in south central Canada are producing plumes to the east
and northeast.

Georgia:
A fire in southeastern Wayne County is producing a moderately dense
smoke plume that extends at least 200 km to the east northeast, ending
far offshore.

Southern and eastern Mexico/Gulf of Mexico:
A persistent area of light to moderately dense smoke has been seen for
days over the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Mexico.  The smoke originates
from the numerous fires burning across the Yucatan and Guatemala and
to a lesser extent the eastern, coastal Mexican states.  The smoke is
particularly dense near coastal Yucatan, Campeche, and Tabasco and then
the smoke moves northward approaching but today not apparently reaching
the U.S. Gulf coast.

Southwestern Mexico:
Many fires in the western coastal states especially south of about 22N
are producing smoke that is mixed with haze.  The smoke/haze mix is
particularly prominent in Guerrero, western Michoacan and Jalisco and
is believed to extend offshore into the Pacific.


 


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.