DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z May 3, 2008
South and East Texas and the western Gulf Coast: A large area of light to moderately dense smoke covers much of the western Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Texas and Louisiana. This area has a mixture of smoke from the numerous agricultural fires burning in Mexico and Central America and the large wildfires that were burning last evening and through the day today in West Texas. One area of smoke was mainly east and south of a line from near Laredo to Texarkana. An area of light to moderate smoke generated from the large blaze in Pecos county this evening extended from the source eastward to near Concho county. Texas Panhandle/Oklahoma/Kansas/Missouri: An area of light to moderate aerosol was seen extending from the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles east and northeast across northern Oklahoma. Southern Kansas and into western Missouri. This area is rotating around in the circulation of a large storm system over the Central Plains. The source and composition of the aerosol is not certain but it is likely a mixture of smoke and blowing dust from the past 2 days over Texas and New Mexico. Colorado/New Mexico: A fire in La Plata county in southwest Colorado had a plume of light smoke extending to the southeast and reaching eastern Rio Arriba by sunset. A narrow plume of thin smoke extending into northwest Lincoln county was associated with the long running fine in western Torrance county. A fire in northern Otero county had a plume of mainly light smoke extending about 150 km to the east. A fire in northern Lea county ignited late in the evening and had a short plume of light to moderate smoke extending to the southeast. California/Arizona/Utah: A large area of aerosol has moved inland with a storm system. This aerosol is believed to be smoke from the massive Russian fires of about a week ago. This area cover much of coastal central and southern California and extends inland across southern California and through southern Nevada, extreme northwest Arizona and southwest Utah. Much of this is light but there is an area of moderate smoke along and lust off the coast in the San Francisco Bay area and another stretching from the Los Angeles area northeast through Las Vegas and into southwest Utah. There is a separate small smoke plume with a fire along the Washington/Kane county border. This area of light to moderate smoke was drifting to the southeast. Washington/Idaho/Montana: A fire in northern Ferry county in Washington had a plume of locally dense smoke that was drifting north into northwest Stevens county and just across the Canadian border. Fires in Lincoln county Montana and Clearwater and Shoshone county had light to moderately dense smoke that was mainly drifting to the north within about 25 km of the blaze. Two fires in eastern Mineral county Montana had light smoke plumes that extended to the east into Lake and Missoula counties. Southeast: Smoke from the fire in western Hernando county extended continued to move about 100 km into the Gulf. A fire on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee had a plume of light smoke extending into the Gulf. A fire along the southern Talladega/Clay county border in Alabama had a plume of moderately dense smoke lift to the north into northeast Alabama. Two fires in southeast Georgia had puffs of thin smoke that lifted to the north and reached the South Carolina border near Augusta near sunset. A fire in Chesterfield county in South Carolina had a plume of mainly light smoke that lifted to the north and fanned out as it reached central North Carolina. Manitoba/Saskatchewan: Numerous agricultural fires were seen across the southern half of these provinces. Numerous puffs of smoke were generated which were all drifting south with a few reaching the North Dakota border. Ruminski