DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z April 28, 2010
Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean/Southern Florida: The patch of thin density smoke which was observed moving to the east across the northern Gulf of Mexico earlier this morning had moved eastward over northern Florida and off the coast over the Atlantic. This smoke was believed to be leftover from several larger fires burning in Louisiana yesterday. Farther to the southeast, a large mass of thin density smoke from the seasonal fires burning in southeastern Mexico and Central America had spread far enough to the north and east that the extreme northern fringe is likely over the Florida Keys and possibly the far southern Florida peninsula. Western US: Gusty southwesterly winds were blowing across the region stretching from southern California to Utah. Observations of blowing dust were noted in northern Utah, but widespread cloudiness over much of the western US prevented detection of blowing dust in satellite imagery. JS 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