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