Tuesday April 6, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z April 7, 2010

South Central Canada/North Central US/Great Lakes Region:
Thin layer remnant smoke seen this morning over southern Canada had
drifted a bit southward today reaching into northwest Montana, northern
North Dakota, and northwest Minnesota. The remnant smoke further east
to the north of the Great Lakes could not be seen as well this evening
due to thickening cloud cover.

Southeast US/Mid-Atlantic:
A band of thin to moderately dense smoke was positioned from the
Florida panhandle northward along the Alabama/Georgia border and then
northeastward across the Georgia, the Carolinas, southeast Virginia,
and extreme southern Maryland. Numerous fires burning in the southeast
today were adding fresh smoke to the mix of old and new smoke. Another
large area of remnant smoke from the past few days of southeast US fires
had pushed off the Mid-Atlantic coast and was moving eastward.

Gulf of Mexico:
Remnant smoke from fires in Mexico and Cuba continued to persist across
the western Gulf of Mexico this evening with some being moderately
dense. The remnant smoke was seen drifting north and northwest towards
the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

Central to Midwestern US:
A large area of thin smoke positioned across the Central to Midwestern US
had expanded north/northeast today mixing with haze/dust collected along
a frontal boundary. The mixture of aerosols stretched from northeast
Oklahoma to southwest Michigan this evening. Some of the smoke may have
originated in Mexico several days ago but a good portion has come from
the more recent fires in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Southwestern US to Central Plains:
The band of mixed aerosols seen this morning along a cold front could
still be picked out in this evenings' imagery. The band is likely
comprised mostly of blowing dust/sand and haze, with additional sand/dust
seen being picked up from White Sands, NM this evening. The band stretched
from central Kansas southwest to the northern Baja Penninsula.

-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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.