DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z March 4, 2008
New Jersey: Fires again were noted across the central and southern portions of the state. Thin smoke particularly from the Ocean and Burlington County fires was being blown northeastward and well offshore. In fact, by late in the afternoon, very thin smoke had reached the southern coast of Long Island. North Carolina: Fires over the extreme northern Outer Banks (near the VA border) and over the central Outer Banks (north of Cape Hatteras) were emitting thin smoke which spread in a northeasterly direction and offshore. Florida: A fire southwest of Tallahassee in Wakulla County of the Florida Panhandle produced a moderately dense smoke plume which moved to the north and into southwestern Georgia. Over east central Florida, a fire in Indian River County was responsible for a large area of moderately dense to dense smoke which fanned out as it moved mainly in a northerly direction. Cloudiness did interfere with some of the details concerning the extent and density of the smoke. Texas/Mexico: Fires popped up during the day very close to the Rio Grande from western Kinney County to just south of Brownsville. Significant smoke was observed especially from the fires located in extreme western Webb County and far western Zapata County. Strong northerly winds blew thin to moderately dense smoke from these fires well to the south into northeastern Mexico. In addition, blowing dust was also evident across southern Texas. Some of the blowing dust originated from point sources in the southern tier of Texas counties and blew southward into northeastern Mexico. Other dust which was likely lifted to higher levels in the atmosphere appeared to move from Mexico to the east into southern Texas. Farther to the west over north central Mexico, a very significant batch of blowing dust moved southward across the Mexican states of eastern Durango, southern Coahuila, and into northern Zacatecas. Hawaii: A hot spot was still detected in satellite imagery with the fire burning along the eastern slopes of Mauna Kea in the north central portion of the Big Island but smoke was no longer visible in satellite imagery. To the south, more possible smoke mixed with volcanic steam/fog (VOG) originated from the Kilauea lava flows and moved to the west-southwest along the southern portion of the Big Island and well offshore to the west and southwest. JS