DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z October 7, 2010
Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley: Once again, a very large number of what are believed to be mainly agricultural fires were detected over the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley region. Numerous smoke plumes moved to the east and southeast during the afternoon combining into larger patches of primarily thin density smoke over far southeastern Missouri, far southwestern Kentucky, extreme western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, northwestern Mississippi, and far northeastern Louisiana. Western Gulf Coast Region: A number of smoke producing fires were analyzed across southern Louisiana and far southeastern Texas. The smoke plumes moved mainly in a southerly direction and out over the western Gulf of Mexico. South Central Canada/North Dakota/Northwestern Minnesota: Seasonal burning has begun over portions of south central Canada including southeastern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba Provinces as well as North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota. Cloudiness did interfere with smoke detection so only a few plumes were observed in satellite imagery. Western US: A significant amount of cloudiness was present over the Southwestern US which greatly limited fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. A few fires producing smoke plumes were observed in Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho although clouds also hindered detection in these regions as well. JS Earlier Today Central US Plains/Midwest/Great Lakes/Ontario/Quebec: A large area of mixed unknown aerosols and thin to moderate density smoke stretched from northern Oklahoma northward to southeast South Dakota/south Minnesota and northeast across James Bay/central Quebec in Canada. Another swath of believed mix of smoke/aerosol stretched northward from northern Indiana across the Great Lakes and merged into the rest of the plume. Some of this mix of smoke and other aerosols was seen yesterday across the northern Plains and had just moved eastward with a frontal boundary. Some additional smoke may have been added by the numerous ag fires that were burning yesterday in two areas: southeast Saskatchewan/southern Manitoba/North Dakota and also Kansas/Oklahoma. Arkansas/Oklahoma: Two small areas of thin remnant smoke over central Arkansas and east Oklahoma and one slightly larger area of thin smoke over west Oklahoma was seen this morning. This smoke is likely from yesterday's ag fires. Texas Coast: An area of thin smoke moving is seen this morning moving southwest along the Texas coast. Most of this smoke is leftover from the numerous agricultural fires burning yesterday along the Mississippi River and across Louisiana, but some smoke may also be coming from an active fire seen today in southwest Louisiana. 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