DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1645Z April 13, 2015
SMOKE Gulf of Mexico: Several areas of thin remnant smoke are seen over the southwestern and western Gulf of Mexico this morning, mostly wherever thick cloud cover does not obscure the view. Agricultural burning in Central America as well as oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche are the likely source points for this smoke that extends as far north as the southern Texas coast. DUST Minnesota/Wisconsin/U.P. Of Michigan/Lake Superior: An area of aerosol is seen moving eastward behind a frontal boundary over the Great Lakes region crossing northeast Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, western Lake Superior, and the western U.P. of Michigan. This aerosol is thought be composed of elevated dust particles but there may be remnant smoke from central US fires West Coast: Another round of elevated dust that originated from Asia was detected off the West Coast this morning. The elevated dust was tracking eastward ahead of a low pressure system off the coast of British Columbia. Sheffler 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