DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1515Z May 12, 2010
Gulf of Mexico/South Central and Southeastern US: The expansive area of low to locally moderately dense smoke that covered a large portion of the Gulf of Mexico yesterday appeared a little less discernible in this mornings satellite imagery. Currently the most distinguishable smoke had shifted to the western portion of the Gulf of Mexico and extended from the Bay of Campeche north to coastal portions of Texas. It is not known how far inland the smoke had spread due to widespread cloud cover. Nearly all of the smoke covering the Gulf of Mexico is believed to have originated from the tremendous number of seasonal agricultural burns continuing in Mexico and Central America. Northern Florida/Southern Georgia: A small area of low density smoke was evident over northern Florida and southern Georgia in this mornings satellite imagery. It is believed that this is remnant smoke from yesterdays fire activity over southern Georgia and perhaps from over the Gulf of Mexico. Hanna 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