DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z February 11, 2006
Florida: Numberous fires south of Lake Okeechobee in the counties of Palm Beach and Hendry are producing light to moderate smoke which moved north across Lake Okeechobee covering portions of the counties of Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, as well as Palm Beach. Other scattered fires in the region between Lake Okeechobee and Tampa were responsible for relatively small localized smoke plumes which were generally moving in a northward direction. Farther to the north, scattered fires across the panhandle and northern Florida were also emitting relatively small northward moving smoke plumes with the exception of somewhat more dense smoke plumes associated with fires over Columbia County as well as near the border of Leon and Wakulla Counties. Smoke from the fire near the Leon-Wakulla County border, just south of Tallahassee, was moving in the general direction of Tallahassee during the late afternoon. Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas: Strong northwesterly winds were fanning a few fires detected across portions of the central and southern Plains. Very long smoke plumes were observed spreading southeastward from fires located over northwestern Harvey County in south central Kansas and Stephens County of south central Oklahoma. The smoke plume from the Harvey County, KS fire extended all the way into north central Oklahoma which is at least 150 miles to the southeast of its source. Colorado: Strong northerly winds over south central Colorado were kicking up a rather small but locally dense cloud of blowing dust/sand from a source region in the vicinity of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve in Saguache County. The dust/sand cloud had extended into north central New Mexico just prior to sunset. Arizona: A significant fire near the Gila-Coconino County border region in the Tonto National Bridge State Park of central Arizona was emitting a large moderately dense batch of smoke which spread southeastward across a good portion of Gila County. Oregon: Several fires in Coos County of southwestern Oregon were responsible for an area of moderately dense smoke which moved in a northerly direction. JS