DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0045Z October 17, 2010
Gulf of Mexico: This evening's satellite imagery indicated an area of aerosol covered a large portion of the northern and western portions of the Gulf of Mexico. It is likely that at least a portion of this aerosol is remnant smoke from the large number of agricultural fires that have occurred over the last several weeks over the lower Mississippi Valley. Minnesota and Michigan: Although not detached, a plume of moderately to isolated extremely dense smoke from a fire in Lake County, Minnesota, extended east southeast across extreme northeastern Minnesota, across Lake Superior and into the UP of Michigan. British Columbia and Washington State: An area of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was entering North America from the Pacific Ocean. 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