DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z May 9, 2017
SMOKE: Florida/Far Southeastern Georgia/Northeastern Gulf of Mexico/Western Atlantic... The West Mims Wildfire along the Florida/Georgia border in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge once again flared up this afternoon resulting in a swath of dense smoke which spread to the southeast over northeastern Florida and offshore over the Atlantic. Leftover thin density smoke from this fire also covered a large region including a portion of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and much of the Florida peninsula along with the western Atlantic off the eastern coast of Florida. Southeastern US... In addition to the West Mims Wildfire, numerous other fires which were believed to be mainly seasonal burning were scattered over Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. A number of thin to locally moderately dense smoke plumes were visible emanating from these fires and quickly spreading to the southeast with some plumes merging to form relatively larger areas of smoke. Gulf of Mexico and Bay of Campeche... Ongoing seasonal fires in southeastern Mexico and Central America were responsible for a large mass of mainly thin density smoke which spread northward over the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico possibly reaching the coastal regions of Texas and Louisiana. DUST: Arizona... A swath of moderately dense blowing dust originated from the Cochise Playa in southeastern Arizona and fanned out as it moved to the north. Remainder of the Southwestern US... Significant cloudiness over much of the Southwestern US greatly limited dust detection in satellite imagery. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Nevada/Idaho... A stripe of thin density aerosol of unknown origin and composition was present stretching from north central Nevada to the northeast across south central Idaho. JS 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