Tuesday, March 20, 2007

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0015Z March 21, 2007

Alabama/Georgia/Florida/South Carolina:
A very large number of fires with numerous smoke plumes were detected
especially across northern Florida, much of central and southern Georgia,
and scattered across South Carolina. Concentrated areas of fires over
northern Florida as well as southwestern Georgia were responsible for
a large mass of mainly thin but locally moderately dense smoke which
drifted to the west and northwest during the afternoon. Elsewhere across
the region, a fire in Chattahoochee County of west central Georgia was
producing a moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume which moved in a
northwest direction across the border into eastern Alabama. Erratic winds
caused a significant moderately dense smoke plume from a fire in Putnam
County in central Georgia to fan out to the north and south before moving
to the northeast later in the afternoon. Just prior to sunset a burst of
rather thick smoke moved to the southeast from a fire in Lincoln County
of far east central Georgia. Across South Carolina, a number of fires in
southwestern South Carolina as well as just across the border in eastern
Georgia were responsible for a region of mainly thin smoke which covered
a number of counties in southern and southwestern South Carolina. Thin to
locally moderately dense smoke was spread across coastal central South
Carolina during the afternoon which initially moved to the southeast
and offshore but changing winds appeared to move the smoke northward
just prior to sunset. The most significant plume in the region was being
produced by a fire in Berkeley County. In northeastern South Carolina,
moderately dense to locally dense smoke was spreading southeastward
from a fire in Chesterfield County. Finally, fires primarily in Russell
and Macon Counties of eastern Alabama were emitting moderately dense to
locally dense smoke plumes which moved off to the northeast.

Louisiana/Texas/Mississippi/Arkansas:
Significant cloudiness was present across a good portion of this region
which limited the ability to detect smoke. However, long northward moving
smoke plumes were visible through the cloudiness from fires in Houston
and Sabine Counties of eastern Texas as well as southwestern Yell County
in west central Arkansas. The density of these plumes is not known due
to the cloudiness.

Eastern New Mexico/Western Texas/Western Oklahoma/Eastern Colorado:
Just a few isolated thin smoke plumes were noted this afternoon across
this area. Gusty southerly and southwesterly winds blew the plumes well
downwind of the actual fires. The winds also appeared to kick up some
blowing dust which moved from extreme east central New Mexico and west
Texas (just northwest of Lubbock) in a northeasterly direction across
the northwestern Texas panhandle (including Amarillo) toward the western
Oklahoma panhandle.

Washington:
A swath of apparent blowing dust was noted in visible imagery just before
sunset moving to the east from central to eastern Washington. One of
the source regions of the blowing dust is approximately the area close
to the border of Kittitas and Grant Counties.

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.