DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z November 20, 2007
Southeastern US: Numerous fires were detected across the southeastern US especially during the afternoon with visible smoke plumes emanating from nearly 20 fires. A moderately dense smoke plume was observed moving to the northwest from a fire in Okaloosa County in the western Florida panhandle. Farther to the west, a thin to moderately dense plume fanned out as it spread to the west from a fire in Orleans Parish just southeast of Lake Pontchartrain. The smoke plume appeared to pass across Lake Pontchartrain and the New Orleans metro area during the afternoon. Southern and Central Plains: Several fires in southwestern Kansas and the northwestern Texas panhandle were responsible for smoke plumes which moved rapidly to the northeast. A large fire in southwestern Barber County close to the Comanche County border in south central Kansas produced a moderately dense plume which moved to the northeast toward the western portions of the Wichita metro area. Another relatively large fire in Motley County of northwestern Texas also produced a moderately dense plume which moved off to the northeast. Arizona/New Mexico: A handful of smoke producing fires were analyzed across portions of Arizona and New Mexico. Moderately dense smoke was visible moving to the east from fires in northeastern Apache County of northeastern Arizona and southern Rio Arriba County of north central New Mexico. California: Fires scattered across the Sacramento Valley of north central California produced patches of mainly thin smoke which combined into a slightly larger area of smoke that moved southward toward the northwestern portion of the Sacramento metro area. Hawaii: Visible imagery showed what appeared to be smoke along with the usual volcanic steam fog (VOG) spreading southwestward from the Kilauea Volcano. This possible smoke was believed to be from lava flows burning vegetation. JS