DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z MAY 10, 2006.
Gulf of Mexico/Southern US: Visible imagery through this evening showed an extremely large mass of haze and smoke covering eastern Mexico, portions of Central America, and nearly the entire Gulf of Mexico. The smoke/haze then extended northward across the eastern half of Texas, Louisiana, a portion of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The large blob of smoke/haze also affected southern Alabama, the western Florida panhandle, and even as far southeast as the southern tip of Florida and the Florida Keys. The source region for much of this smoke continued to be the widespread numerous fires burning across Mexico and Central America. Very dense batches of smoke were observed from fires burning across the Yucatan Peninsula. A patch of moderately dense smoke from these fires over the Yucatan appears to have been transported northward overnight and during the day and is now moving into southern and southeastern Louisiana. Fires over the western portion of Cuba were also contributing to the smoke/haze which extended northward across the Florida Keys and the eastern Gulf of Mexico toward the Florida Panhandle. Florida: Major fires continue to burn over southwestern Palm Beach County and western Broward County of southern Florida resulting in a large area of locally dense smoke which moved generally in an eastward and southeastward direction during the day across the east coast of Florida and well offshore toward the Bahamas. The smoke affected significantly populated areas along the east coast including Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Some smoke in a narrow band was still present moving eastward across the east coast and out over the Atlantic from fires in eastern Orange and Brevard Counties along the east central portion of Florida. New Mexico/Western Texas: Gusty winds from the WSW were responsible for lifting areas of blowing dust from the Great Sand Dunes in south central New Mexico as well as source regions in Mexico just south and west of El Paso, TX. The clouds of blowing dust had spread across southeastern New Mexico as well as the western Texas Panhandle by sunset. Utah: A relatively thin smoke plume from a fire in northeastern Box Elder County, north of the Great Salt Lake, was moving in a SSE direction toward the far northern suburbs of Salt Lake City. Arizona: A pair of fires in the Kaibab National Forest near the Grand Canyon National Park were emitting locally dense smoke plumes which moved eastward across northern Arizona. California/Oregon/Washington/Idaho: Widely scattered fires with moderately dense smoke plumes were observed this afternoon and evening across the region. See the web page graphics for details. JS