DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z May 06, 2014
Dust/Sand: Southern High Plains: Very strong (15-20kt) SSW winds are kicking up loose soils/dust/sand west of the dry line from West Central KS/OK panhandle and western column of counties of OK and Cap Rock of TX panhandle (as far south as Gaines county). The dust/soil source regions are bound to the west by the CO/NM line with KS/OK/TX and just east of the dry line as the air has become a bit elevated at that boundary. Chihuahuan Desert/White Sands: A large portion of the Chihuahuan desert of N Coahuila, SW of El Paso/Juarez is being picked up under strong 25-30kt SSW winds covering a large portion of S NM, nearing the N-S TX boarder near Hobbs as well as the western panhandle of TX. This plume of sand is moderately dense in appearance nearing dense across the center portion of the source across El Paso/Juarez itself. Further north sands from the White Sands destert is also moving NE under similar conditions but is less dense in appearance and extends nearly 225km nearing Clovis, NM on average in a 60km wide swath. Southern California: Moderately dense sand storm can be seen across the Anza-Borrego Desert of S California as well as the desert east of the Salton Sea Greenway as well as deserts S of Mexicali in far N Baja California. This dust sand is moving E, NE and SE under the 20-25kt winds due to the surface inflection of the base of the strong trof/upper low digging south across NV. Asian Aerosols: Alaska: A swath of moderately dense aerosols, likely dominated by dust/sand from N China/Mongolia can be seen moving SE across Bristol Bay, the western tip of the Alaskan Peninsula and Eastern Aluetian Islands into the Gulf of Alaska. Likely these aerosols are also present across the SW-NE jet streak across W AK but cloud cover is too dense to differentiate attm. Gallina 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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