DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z April 18, 2010
Southeast US: Thin to moderately dense residual smoke could still be seen this evening over parts of the Southeastern US from Louisiana to the Carolinas and stretching eastward from there along a frontal boundary across the western Atlantic. The separate area of remnant smoke seen over the Louisiana/Arkansas border this morning became obscured by thick clouds today and could no longer be seen. This remnant smoke is believed to be from fires in the Southeastern US and TN valley over the past day or two. South Central Canada/Northern Great Plains to Ohio Valley: A plume of aerosols likely to contain remnant smoke was seen stretching from northern Saskatchewan/northern Manitoba/western Ontario south and southeastward into the North Central US and reaching as far as West Virginia this evening. The overall composition of the plume, especially in central Canada is unknown,as well as the origin. But given the numerous fires that were identified yesterday over the Northern Plains and South Central Canada, and the fact that smoke is most dense near and just downstream of those regions, it is believed smoke makes up a good portion of the aerosol composition. Moderately dense to dense smoke covered from western Ontario/east Manitoba across parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Additional fires this evening in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and Minnesota were seen producing smoke plumes that will add to the aerosols already over the country. -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