DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z MAY 2, 2006.
Mexico/Texas: A large fire burning in the Serranias del Burro in the N. Sierra Marde in N. Coahuila state is producing moderately dense to very dense smoke that extends eastward and then southeast into southern Texas. Near sunset the plume extended 400 km from the source and had nearly reached Corpus Christi. The northern extent reached the border with Terrell and Val Verde. Numerous fires over the mountains of southern Chihuahua and northwest Durango states continue to produce smoke plumes that have congealed into a large mass of moderately dense to locally dense smoke over the entire region. Before sunset the movement of the smoke mass was generally to the east northeast and extended into north central Mexico. Gulf of Mexico: A broad area of light to locally moderately dense smoke from days of fire activity over southeast Mexico was seen over much of the western Gulf of Mexico. It extended from the Bay of Campeche northward to a point about 150 km east of Brownsville Texas. This area was about 300 km wide. A separate area was seen just south of the Louisiana/Texas border. This whole mass was drifting north. Southeast US: Scattered smoke plumes were seen with fires across the Southeast. The largest plume was from a blaze in Dixie county Florida near Cross City. The moderately dense plume moved out over the Gulf during the afternoon and eventually reached 200 km offshore. A moderately dense to locally dense plume was observed with a fire in central Lake county Florida. The plume was moving south and had reached into northern Polk county by sinset. Other fires with plumes were seen over southeast Georgia (Bulloch and Bryan counties), South Carolina (McCormick county) and North Carolina (Scotland and Hoke counties). All of the plumes were drifting to the south, were thin to moderately dense and were mainly 50-100 km long. New York/Pennsylvania: A fire over southeast Centre county Pennsylvania was producing a thin to moderately dense smoke plume that extended west into central Clearfield county. A couple of fires in the Catskills over Ulster and Sullivan counties were producing thin smoke plumes that extended to the west southwest into extreme northeast Pennsylvania. Washington/Oregon/Nevada: A blaze over coastal Curry county in southwest Oregon produced a puff of smoke that moved out over the Pacific during the late morning and afternoon. A fire over northeast Harney county produced a moderately dense plume approximately 125 km long that extended to the east into Owyhee county Idaho. Smaller plumes were seen over Jackson and eastern Lane counties and were drifting south. Several areas of blowing dust were seen over parts of ORegon and Washington. The largest areas were originating east of the Cascades over western Grant and Benton counties in Washington. These dust plumes were moving eastward quickly and had reached the southeast Washington/Idaho border by sunset. Additional source areas of blowing dust were over Humboldt county Nevada and Lake county Oregon. These plumes weren't as long and were moving to the south. Ruminski