DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1545Z MARCH 23, 2009
Southwestern/Central US: Blowing sand/dust from a strong storm system over the northern Plains was seen this evening spreading eastward across portions of eastern New Mexico and west Texas. One area was emanating from the White Sands area of south central New Mexico and spreading northeast into the Texas Panhandle. Another area was seen coming from west Texas near Lubbock and streaking northeast toward Childress. Another area of lighter blowing dust was seen over easter Nebraska and central Kansas. This area was not as dense and was quickly spreading to the northeast. Smoke plumes were seen with a number of fires in a swath from Missouri eastward across the deep south and into the Carolinas. These plumes can be seen in detail at the links below. Ruminski THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov