DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z April 9, 2013
Gulf of Mexico: A large area of light to moderately dense smoke extends from southern Mexico/Central America through the western Gulf of Mexico into eastern Texas and southern Louisiana. This area likely consists of remnant smoke from agricultural burns throughout Central America and Mexico. Blowing Dust/Sand: In the first visible images today, significant areas of blowing dust can be seen in the Southwest US into Mexico. A detached area of blowing dust/sand is located from the Baja Peninsula to Sonora and is moving to the south. A larger, more dense area of blowing dust/sand stretches from northern Chihuahua, where small pockets are still generating more blowing dust/sand, north through eastern New Mexico up to the Colorado border. There also appears to be a small pocket of blowing dust/sand in northern Texas / Oklahoma panhandle area. Extensive cloudiness in the central plains obscures viewing the full extent of the blowing dust/sand but models suggest the area may extend well into the central plains effecting the majority of western Oklahoma and Kansas as well as southeastern Colorado. -Salemi THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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