DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z April 14, 2012
Western Gulf of Mexico: An area of diffuse, light smoke was seen over the western Gulf of Mexico this morning off the Texas coast and mainly west of 95W. This is remnant smoke from the numerous seasonal agricultural fires in Mexico and Central America and also from the County Line fire in northeast Florida. Northern Florida: Smoke from the county Line fire was seen extending to the west this morning nearly reaching Tallahassee. The smoke was light. West Texas: An area of very light remnant smoke from fires burning in the mountains of southern Chihuahua and northern Durango was detected moving to the northeast across the Big Bend area of Texas. Western Virginia: The Easter Complex fires continue to burn in western Virginia and have a plume of light smoke extending to the northeast this morning. The plume extends approximately 40 km to the northeast. Blowing Dust: Several source points of blowing dust were already seen this morning over northern Chihuahua near the New Mexico border. The dust was seen spreading to the northeast into south central New Mexico. The area of blowing dust is expected to expand this afternoon and evening as winds increase across the region due to a strong storm system moving into the Four Corners area. Extensive cloud cover is inhibiting dust detection along the Arizona, New Mexico border. Ruminski THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE 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 ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov