Sunday, March 2, 2008

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















 


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.