DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0015Z December 9, 2009
Sand/Dust: Texas/New Mexico: Very strong sfc winds have mixed downward across the desert with nearly every loose sand/dust desert being kicked and and blown west on 20-25kt sfc winds including: across SE New Mexico (including White Sands), the deserts of extreme N Coahuila in Mexico and near all of the southern Cap Rock and Western panhandle of Texas including the Big Bend Area. The sand storm is particularly dense from El Paso to nearing the Ft. Worth area along I-20 and points S and SE. Gulf of California: Sand and dust from deserts surrounding the N Gulf of California has been suspended across the Gulf as far south as Angel de la Guarda island. Winds have slacked a bit to keep the thin to moderately dense smoke suspended between the mountain ranges and over the water itself, particularly along the eastern coast in Sonora. GG For graphical information on the smoke plumes and associated fires which were detected, please refer to the links 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