DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 15, 2013
Gulf of Mexico to southern Plains: A large area of mostly light density smoke from the seasonal agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America could be seen covering much of the western Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan to near the Texas/Louisiana border and extending into central Oklahoma. Wisconsin/Minnesota: A pair of large fires developed this afternoon/evening in central Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Moderately dense to locally dense smoke plumes were detected, with the smoke from the Minnesota fire moving to the east into Wisconsin and the smoke from the fire in Wisconsin moving to the northeast into western Lake Superior and the western portion of upper Michigan. Gulf coast: Light to moderately dense smoke from fires in southern Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle was moving south into the northern Gulf of Mexico. Blowing Dust: Northern Plains: An area of light aerosol, most likely dust from Asia, was seen over the northern Plains from the Dakotas to Minnesota and drifting to the east. Southern California/southwest Nevada: Strong winds across this region kicked up areas of blowing dust from over interior portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties and Inyo county near the Nevada border. The dust was moving to the east and northeast and extended into southwest Nevada (Nye and Esmeralda counties). Ruminski/Oegerle 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