DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z April 23, 2013
Smoke: Lower Mississippi Valley: Numerous fires over eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas produced large smoke plumes this afternoon and evening with the smoke drifting to the north. Southern Gulf of Mexico/Central America: A large area of thin to moderately dense smoke is seen covering much of central portions of Central America including the Yucatan, southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras and extending into the southwest Gulf of Mexico and the East Pacific. This smoke is from the extensive seasonal burning throughout the region. Dust/Aerosols: Southern Plains: A sharp cold front with very strong winds was dropping south over the southern Plains into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. It was kicking up an area of light to moderately dense blowing dust that was surging south with the front. An area of light blowing dust was noted ahead of the front coming off of White Sands in southern New Mexico and in adjoining areas of eastern New Mexico and west Texas. This dust was moving to the east. Great Basin and Four Corners: Several areas of blowing dust were detected across the region. One was an area of light to moderately dense dust over northeast Arizona moving to the east into New Mexico. Two source areas of moderately dense blowing dust were seen over Nevada – one was over northern Churchill county and the other over northeast Nye county. The dust was moving to the south. Long range dust: Elevated dust (higher altitude) due to long range transport from Asia was seen curling south and southeastward along the West coast from coastal Oregon and Washington into northern Nevada. Ruminski 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