Friday, March 14, 2008

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0102Z March 15, 2008

Sand Storm:
Very strong westerly winds across the high plains of NM, TX and
northern Mexico has kicked up a large area of moderate to very dense
sand that is blowing nearly due east.  Dense sand from the White Sands
is distinguished in the sand storm due to the difference in color... this
sand can be seen moving due E as far as Lubbock and Lynn counties in TX.
Otherwise...sand is being kicked up over the deserts of far southern NM
in Luna and Dona Ana counties as well as much of the deserts and salt
flats of N Chihuahua.  This is combining with the large source across
the Southern Cap Rock of TX/NM centered on Gaines county.

As it is all moving nearly due E... the sand can be seen over all of S
NM, the western panhandle of TX as far E as a line from Val Verde to
Tom Green county. Nearly all of Western Central TX from Tom Green to
Stephens county to Archer county and west along the line of counties
to Cochran county.  Very thin amounts of sand can be seen across the
next line of counties north...but is substantially less, as the density
difference is quite stark.

Fires:
EXTREME FIRE:
TX---> A large prairie fire that has run through central King county, TX
has also erupted into a very large, very dense smoke plume that extends
quite far along N TX and the Red River as far E as Choctaw, OK and Lamar,
TX counties.  The smoke is particularly dense covering all of North and
East of King county as far as Montague county...it is also mixing with
active midlevel clouds/showers at the tail end of a boundary.


Mississippi:
A large fire in extreme east-central Forrest county is producing a
large fan of moderate smoke that extends NE to SE as far E as the S
Alabama River.
A recent fire in extreme SE Harrison county has produced a moderately
dense plume of smoke that extends due E into central Jackson county,
MS and is about 10km wide.

Louisiana:
A strong fire in western Winn parish produced a moderately dense plume
that moved due north...as it did the upperlevel smoke began to fan toward
the NE. It currently can be seen as about a 25km (N to S) line from N
Lincoln parish to C Morehouse parish, with a narrow (3-5km) wide plume
that extends back to the source in Winn parish.

Oklahoma:
A fire along the central portion of the Pittsburg/Latimer county line
is producing a line of thin to moderate smoke that extend just a few
degrees W of due N into Nrn Muskogee/Okmulgee counties.

After clouds from showers has moved through western OK, two large fires (C
Beckham county and along the N-S boarder of Harmon and Greer counties)have
been ignited by the high winds and are rapidly expanding. In doing so,
the thin to moderate smoke from these fires are moving from south to
due west with a curl due to the rapidly shifting winds...the combined
smoke covers most of Greer and N Jackson counties.

East Texas:
A few fires over far eastern Shelby county have produced thin smoke that
as moved NNE into a thunderstorm complex over Bossier and Caddo parishes
in NW LA.
A fire along the Walker/Montgomery county line produced a thin to
moderately dense plume of smoke that moved NE into W Nacogdoches county.
At one point the width of the plume was as wide as Trinity county.

Far S Texas:
A fire along the Jim Hogg, Webb, and Duval county corner produced moderate
smoke that extended ENE into ext NW Kleberg county in a 10km wide plume.
A fire in extreme SE LaSalle county (near the 4corners) produced moderate
smoke that extended ENE into S Bee county in a 5-10km wide plume.
A fire in ext SE Dimmit county is producing a large blowup of moderate
to dense smoke that is reaching mid-to-upper levels and has fanned out
like a T-storm anvil across LaSalle county into far SW McMullen and NW
Duval county.

SW Texas:
A fire in extreme NW Terrell county near SR-2886 has recently intensified
with an increase in WNW winds that has lead to convectively dense smoke
that is extending ESE to the Val Verde/Edwards line...covering parts of
ext. S Crockett county.   A small fire with accompanying thin smoke in
northern Val Verde county is being covered up by this more dense smoke.
A fire along the eastern slopes of the Santiago Mts. in central Brewster
county produced a very narrow (2km) wide plume of moderate smoke that
due to very strong winds has roped out as it moves E along the US/Mexico
boarder into Val Verde county.
A new fire along the Irion/Reagan county line is producing a very thin
line (1-2km) of moderately dense smoke that extends due east completely
across Irion county.

New Mexico:
A large fire near Lovington, NM in central Lea county has produced a
large fan of thin to moderate smoke that is just aloft of the large sand
storm raging across the souther Cap Rock. The thin smoke extends as far
as Runnels county on its SE portion of the fan... to Garza county due
E of the fire.  Still it is moving rapidly and though there are other
small fires across NM and W TX...this smoke is the only one that can
be discerned.

Gallina







 


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.