DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0145Z February 24, 2011
Southeastern US: An amazing number of fires were analyzed across the Southeast during the day with many fires producing visible smoke in satellite imagery. By sunset, a number of the individual smoke plumes had combined into larger patches of smoke, particularly across the Florida panhandle, Georgia, and South Carolina. Cloudiness did interfere somewhat with fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery in an area stretching from central and eastern Texas. Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, northern Mississippi, northern Alabama, and much of Tennessee. Southwestern US: Blowing dust/sand was visible emanating from several sources over northern Mexico, just south of the southwestern New Mexico border as well as from the White Sands region of south central New Mexico. These thin density areas of blowing dust/sand were moving generally to the northeast. 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. THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov