DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z March 18, 2018
SMOKE: South Central US… Enough of a break in the cloudiness allowed for a significant number of seasonal fires to be detected over eastern Kansas, southern Missouri, central and eastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The break in the clouds resulted though in only a relatively brief glimpse of some of the smoke plumes in the region with the extent and density information limited in satellite imagery. Bay of Campeche/Western Gulf of Mexico… A combination of smoke from flaring off of the oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche and smoke from seasonal burning occurring in Mexico was present over a portion of the Bay of Campeche and the western Gulf of Mexico. It is likely that other pollutants from industry were also present in this region of aerosol as well. JS Earlier This Morning... Florida Several fires south of Lake Okeechobee were producing smoke that was traveling northeast across the lake. -Westbrook 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