DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1430Z MARCH 13, 2006

Texas:
Very large destructive fires continue to be observed this morning
across the northern Texas panhandle. The wind direction has switched
from southwesterly to northwesterly overnight which is now blowing
the smoke in a southeasterly direction all the way into central Texas,
just southwest of the Dallas-Ft Worth region. Morning GOES-10 imagery
shows a very long stripe of moderately dense smoke which extends from
the northern Texas panhandle to Childress then stretching at least 300
miles to the southeast of the actual fires.

Oklahoma/NW Arkansas/Missouri/Illinois/Michigan:
GOES-10 imagery combined with the lower sun angle reveals a large area
of what is likely a combination of blowing dust/sand and smoke covering
a good portion of central and eastern Oklahoma, northwestern Arkansas,
central and southern Missouri(including the St. Louis region), central
and northern Illinois(including the Chicago area), and southwestern
lower Michigan. The area of blowing dust/sand/smoke is likely leftover
from yesterday's fires which were concentrated across the northern
Texas Panhandle and the blowing dust/sand which likely originated across
eastern New Mexico and western Texas. Southwesterly winds have transported
this combination of blowing dust/sand/smoke northeastward through the
dry slot of the intense storm system which is currently located over
northeastern Iowa.

JS

Unless otherwise indicated:

Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.

Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.

A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.

Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.