Saturday, May 3, 2008

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z May 4, 2008

Florida:
A fire which burned all day just to the west of Lake Okeechobee in
southern Florida emitted a moderately dense to locally dense smoke plume
which fanned out as it spread to the north and east.

Georgia:
A moderately dense smoke plume was observed through thin cloudiness
moving to the northeast from a fire in northwestern Long County of
southeastern Georgia.

Texas:
Moderately dense to dense smoke was visible moving to the south from
a fire along the Trinity-Houston County border of southeastern Texas.
The smoke was headed in the general direction of the northern portion
of the Houston metro area by sunset.

Kansas/Oklahoma:
A number of relatively small smoke plumes of thin density were visible
moving mainly to the south or southeast from fires scattered across
Kansas and Oklahoma.

North Dakota/South Central Canada:
A few fires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan Provinces of south central
Canada as well as North Dakota were producing smoke plumes of thin
density which moved primarily in a southerly or southeasterly direction.
Cloudiness over the region interfered with additional fire and smoke
detection.  Late in the day, a region of possible thin smoke was also
observed spreading southeastward across central and southern Alberta
Province as well as western and southwestern Saskatchewan Province.
The source for this smoke is unknown though it may still be remnant
smoke from the large Russian fires of a approximately a week ago.

New Mexico:
A very long but rather narrow locally moderately dense smoke plume from a
fire in northern Otero County of south central New Mexico moved eastward
into western Texas reaching the area just south of Lubbock by late in
the day.

California:
A moderately dense smoke plume spread eastward into western Nevada from
a fire in southeastern Plumas County of northeastern California.

Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas:
A large mass of mainly thin smoke originating from seasonal fires over
Mexico and Central America moved northward over the Bay of Campeche and
western Gulf of Mexico to far southern Texas and just off the southeastern
Texas/southern Louisiana coast.  The smoke appeared to be of at least
moderate density over the Bay of Campeche.

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.