DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z April 16, 2012
Western Gulf of Mexico: Remnant light smoke from the seasonal agricultural burning in southeast Mexico and Central America was seen this morning over the western Gulf of Mexico, mainly west of 94W. This smoke area was likely also being drawn further northward into eastern Texas and western Louisiana ahead of a cold front but cloud cover was inhibiting detection. Central and Southern Plains: Remnant blowing dust from yesterday's large event has been lofted and pushed further east from its location earlier this morning. Late this afternoon it stretched along a frontal boundary from southern Texas northward into Wisconsin. A new area of thin to moderately dense blowing dust is visible and emanating from point sources between Lubbock and Midland, Texas. The dust is moving to the east and northeast across portions of north-central Texas and central and southern Oklahoma. The leading edge of smoke from fires in western Mexico is moving northeast and nearly reaching the southwestern edge of Texas just prior to sunset. Vogt/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