DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0000Z December 14, 2007
Florida: At least nine smoke plumes were visible in satellite imagery during the afternoon across portions of Florida. Among the more noteworthy was a moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume moving to the northeast from a fire in southwestern Bay County in the Florida panhandle. Farther to the southeast, a thin but very long smoke plume was detected moving to the northeast and offshore from a fire in Orange County of east central Florida to the east of Orlando. The smoke plume extended nearly 115 miles to the northeast of the source. California: A puff of mainly thin smoke moved quickly to the south and fanned out from a fire located just southeast of the Salton Sea in Imperial County of southern California. Quite a few fires were detected in or near the northern and central Sierra Nevada Range of northeastern and east central California. However, only one thin smoke plume was visible in GOES-West imagery moving to the south from a fire in south central El Dorado County. More smoke plumes were likely associated with these fires, but due to the continued absence of GOES-12 imagery, smoke detection in the Western US (especially during the afternoon hours) has been hindered. Oregon: A thin to moderately dense smoke plume was visible moving to the south-southwest and offshore from a fire in southwestern Curry County in southwestern Oregon. Hawaii: A possible smoke plume due to lava flows from the Kilauea Volcano encountering vegetation was visible moving mainly to the west along the southern coast of the big island of Hawaii. The possible smoke plume appeared to lift a bit more to the north during the afternoon and mixed with the usual volcanic steam/fog in the region around the volcano and offshore. JS