Thursday APRIL 23, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 2015Z APRIL 23, 2009

South Carolina:
The large fire near Myrtle Beach, SC was seen producing light to moderate
density smoke this morning in GOES-12 satellite imagery, which had spread
northeastward early this morning towards Morehead City, NC. Around 16Z the
smoke appeared to rise above the surface winds and spread more easterly.

Florida:
A large area of light to moderate density smoke was seen west of south
Florida this morning spreading westward. A fire in central Collier county
began producing additional smoke which has gotten thicker as the day
has progressed. This moderate  to very thick smoke is moving westward
into the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas/Oklahoma:
Remnant smoke from a large fire yesterday in western New Mexico has
drifted eastward and was seen in morning satellite imagery over central
to east Texas and also over southern Oklahoma.

Colorado/Kansas:
An area of light smoke was seen over east Colorado and southwest Kansas
this morning. The origin of this smoke was undetermined.

-Sheffler


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













 


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.