DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z April 25, 2011
Blowing Dust: A large area of blowing dust originates from Roosevelt County, NM as well as Terry and Hockley counties in TX. The 20kt winds in the area are moving the dust eastward. A discrete area of dust can be seen moving east from an area west of Dilkon, AZ. Originating from the Mojave National Preserve, an area of dust is moving to the east. Two large areas of blowing dust are in Arizona. One originates from central Esmerelda County and the other from northeastern Mineral County. The dust is moving to the east and has reached the Utah border. Smoke: Gulf of Mexico: Remnant smoke from fires in Mexico and throughout Central America is covering the western and central portion of the Gulf of Mexico and moving north into Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi where it is obscured by clouds. Texas: Large fires in the western portion of the states are creating moderately dense areas of smoke which are extending to the east. In the panhandle of Texas, smoke is mixing with blowing dust. Earlier: Northern Plains/Midwest/Southwest Canada: A thin and large area of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen stretching from northeast British Columbia southeastward across Canada into the northern Plains of the United States and across part of the Midwest just southwest of Lake Superior. In the US, this aerosol covered portions of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the U.P. of Michigan. This aerosol could be remnant dust from eastern Asia that had been moving across the Aleutians over a week ago, but it cannot be certain. Texas/Northeast Mexico: An area of thin to moderate density smoke was present over northeast Mexico, central/northeast Texas, and extreme south central Oklahoma this morning. Clouds likely obscured the full extent of the smoke in Texas. This remnant smoke is likely from the fires that were burning in northern Mexico, west Texas, and southern New Mexico yesterday. Gulf of Mexico/South Florida: Remnant smoke from Mexico could be seen drifting northward across the western Gulf today towards the Texas and Louisiana coasts. In addition thin smoke was emanating from western Cuba to the northwest. A very small patch of thin smoke was seen crossing the waters just southeast of the Florida Keys and likely came from one of the fires in the Bahamas yesterday given the easterly flow over this region today. Mid-Atlantic Coast: A thin unknown aerosol was seen rotating northeastward along a frontal boundary today off the Virginia/Maryland/Delaware/New Jersey coasts. It is not believed to be remnant smoke but its actual composition is not known. Salemi/Sheffler 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