DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2315Z January 29, 2008
Sand/Dust: Texas A strong cold front has blown through western and central Texas with very high winds that has resuspended a significant amount of dust and sand. The source of thin density sand/dust that currently extends from Brady, TX to Waco, TX to Tyler, TX is from central Oklahoma this morning as well as northern Texas as it crossed...it is a very narrow line (around 5-10km wide from North to South). A significant sand storm with very high density had its source from the sandy southern Cap Rock over Dawson,Gaines,Martin,Howard, and Andrews counties. Currently this area continues to pick up dust/sand and is currently located covering all of Crockett, Val Verde, Schleicher, Edwards, Sutton, Real, Menard, Kimble, Kerr, Bandera, Kendall, and Gillespie counties... some lingering thin dust/sand can be seen on the northern extentents of this area. Smoke: Florida/Georgia: A fire in SW Oscela N.F (just north of I-10) has produced a large moderate to dense smoke plume that has rapidly moved toward the NE and covered a large portion of SE GA. The plume extends about 200km (almost to Savannah, GA) and is about 15km wide. This area has become covered by high clouds making detection difficult to impossible over the last hour or so. Two fires in west to west central Charlotte county have produced thin to moderately dense smoke that moved due north but is also being obscured by cirrus. Numerous agricultural fire in the sugar cane swamplands S and SE of Lake Okeechobee have produced small puffs of thin smoke that had consolidated into a large area that moved north and covered all of the Lake and portions of S Okeechobee county. Oklahoma/Texas: Two fires in Jefferson county, OK produced short puffs of smoke, but with very high winds had quickly moved SE into an area of very thin smoke (with embedded dust/sand) that extends between extreme SE Hunt county to S Camp (111 km long) and is about 60km wide at this point now...it continues to elongate and dissipate in a SE to E direction. A large fire in far SE Clay county, TX is producing a moderately dense plume of smoke that has moved SSE and has combined with smoke from fires in N Tarrant and SW Tarrant county. The area is about 37km at its widest point and extends over 235km from the fire in Clay county to Freestone/Limestone counties. A fire in central Callahan county has produce thin smoke that extends SSE over 100km to the Colorado River near the intersection of San Saba, Mills and Brown counties. The plume is about 15km wide. Gallina