DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z March 3, 2008
New Jersey: Several fires across the central and southern portions of the state were emitting smoke plumes of at least thin density which moved in an east-southeast direction. Patchy cloudiness moved across the state during the afternoon which interfered with additional smoke detection and density information. North Carolina: A fire north of Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks produced a thin to moderately dense smoke plume which fanned out as it moved southward over the eastern portion of Pamlico Sound and the central Outer Banks including Cape Hatteras. South Carolina: Fires over western Clarendon County of central SC and northern Charleston County of east central SC were responsible for moderately dense to dense smoke plumes which fanned out as they moved off to the northwest. Georgia: Many fires were detected across Georgia during the day with more than a dozen visible smoke plumes. Most of the smoke plumes were of the thin variety and moved in a northwesterly direction. A larger area of thin smoke with embedded patches of moderately dense to even localized dense smoke was present over southeastern Georgia due to fires in Liberty and Bryan Counties. The area of smoke drifted close to the Savannah metro area by late in the afternoon. Alabama: Quite a few fires and smoke plumes were also visible across Alabama this afternoon. Large swaths of thin smoke were evident over eastern Alabama moving in a north=northwesterly direction. Moderately dense to locally dense northward moving smoke plumes were emanating from fires in southern Madison County of northern Alabama, along the border of Talladega/Clay Counties of northeastern Alabama, and in western Cleburne County of northeastern Alabama. Florida: More smoke producing fires were visible across the Florida Panhandle and northern Florida. Thin to moderately dense plumes were observed moving to the north-northwest from fires in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties of far northwestern Florida. Farther to the east, a large moderately dense to dense smoke plume expanded and fanned out as it moved off to the west-northwest from a fire in Baker County of northeastern Florida. The plume moved across the border into southern Georgia by late in the afternoon. Mississippi: A couple of large moderately dense to dense smoke plumes developed during the afternoon from fires in the southern Mississippi county of Perry and near the border of Jackson-Harrison Counties. These rapidly developing plumes moved in a north-northwesterly direction. Louisiana: A long narrow thin to moderately dense smoke plume from a fire in northern Plaquemines Parish of southeastern LA moved to the northwest and across the western portion of Lake Pontchartrain during the late afternoon. Texas/Southern New Mexico/Northern Mexico: A quick moving fire just north of Midland TX in southern Martin County produced a burst of moderately dense to locally dense smoke which moved in a northeasterly direction. Some thin blowing dust kicked up by strong northerly winds was also evident in visible imagery across northern Mexico (just south of the New Mexico border), southern New Mexico, western (including El Paso) and northwestern Texas. Arizona: Streaks of blowing dust were visible moving to the southeast from source regions in western, southwestern, and south central Arizona (just southwest of Phoenix). The blowing dust moved over southern Arizona and into northwestern Mexico. Hawaii: A large moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume from an ongoing fire along the eastern slopes of Mauna Kea in north central Hawaii was seen in visible imagery fanning out to the north and west while moving primarily in a west-northwest direction. The smoke extended well off the western coast of the Big Island and also extended northward to the southern portion of Maui. To the south, more possible smoke mixed with volcanic steam/fog (VOG) was visible moving to the west-southwest from the Kilauea lava flows. This mixture of smoke and VOG also moved well off the west coast of the Big Island and appeared to combine with some of the smoke from the large fire. JS