DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z October 8, 2009
Nebraska/Iowa/Minnesota: Patches of thin remnant smoke seen this morning over Nebraska and Kansas had continued to move northeastward today. By this evening, the remaining visible smoke stretched from the Nebraska/Iowa border to southeast Minnesota. The NWS Air Quality Forecast Guidance website at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/aq/sectors/conus.php depicted this smoke fairly well and indicated that it is mostly surface or near surface based. Pacific Northwest: Smoke from fires burning yesterday and today in Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho contributed to thin areas of smoke seen this evening over southeast Washington, northeast Oregon, and southwest Idaho. Some moderately dense smoke was also seen near Walla Walla, WA. California: An area of thin to moderately dense smoke was observed over the Central Valley in California moving to the south and east. Some of this smoke was left over from yesterday's California fires while some is from currently active fires today. Hawaii: A thin higher level cirrus-like feature was observed this evening over Hawaii and is believed to be SO2. The SO2 was moving eastward back towards the Big Island, where it likely originated. Western Gulf of Mexico: Significant haze was observed moving inland across the coastal areas of Texas, Louisiana, and northeast Mexico this evening from the western Gulf of Mexico. -Sheffler More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others can be found at the locations listed below. THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov