Saturday, March 26, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z March 27, 2011

Texas and New Mexico:
In addition to the smoke analyzed earlier in the day (see below) there
was a narrow band of light remnant smoke visible this evening moving
west to west-southwest across extreme western OK and northern TX into
eastern NM. This area is likely from numerous agricultural burns in
Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas the past several days.

Northern Mexico and Texas:
A couple large wildfires burning in northern Mexico were producing very
dense smoke plumes this evening. The smoke was moving northeast into
portions of Val Verde County, Texas.

Earlier Today:

Gulf of Mexico:
Thin to moderate density smoke could be seen covering most of the Gulf of
Mexico this morning as remnant smoke from the past few days of fires in
the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and from other Central American countries
continued to stream northward. As this smoke reaches the Gulf Coast, the
flow has been maneuvering it eastward across the northern Gulf towards
northern Florida. In addition, a plume of smoke was lifting northwestward
across Cuba from the numerous fires there yesterday extending over and
to the northwest of the Florida Keys where it meets the smoke that is
coming from Mexico.

Southeast US Coast:
While the large smoke producing fires in southeast Georgia are still
burning this morning, they were producing less dense and smaller smoke
plumes with the new smoke moving northeastward. A large area of remnant
smoke was still present off the Southeast Coast stretching southeastward
from Georgia to the northern Bahamas and eastward from the South Carolina
coast out over the Atlantic as the smoke slid along a west to east
oriented frontal boundary. Moderately dense smoke within this larger
area could be seen extending approximately 330 miles southeastward from
the Georgia/South Carolina border.

Oklahoma/Texas:
An area of thin remnant smoke could be seen over southern Oklahoma and
central to northeast Texas moving behind and beneath the cloud deck. This
smoke likely came from the numerous fires that have been burning in
Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas the past few days.

Ontario/Northern Great Lakes Region:
An aerosol of unknown origin and composition stretched from the
northwestern corner of the Canadian province of Ontario south and
southeastward to the northern parts of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, also
covering a small extent of the U.P. of Michigan. This aerosol could be
partially made up of remnant smoke from the fires in the Central Plains
several days ago that had been lifting northward but it is likely there
are also other aerosols involved in the composition.

Earle/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.