DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z March 29, 2011

Iowa/Illinois/Indiana:
Numerous fires were analyzed across the region stretching from eastern
Iowa to the Ohio Valley, but only a few small smoke plumes were visible
in satellite imagery.

South Central and Southeastern US:
Significant cloudiness covered a good portion of the South Central and
Southeastern US during the day which greatly inhibited fire and smoke
detection in satellite imagery.

Northern Mexico/Southwestern Texas:
Large fires continue to burn in the Mexican state of Coahuila in northern
Mexico just south of the Texas border producing large areas of moderately
dense to locally dense smoke. The smoke thinned and fanned out as it moved
to the northeast crossing the border into southwestern Texas near Del Rio.

Cuba/South Florida:
Smoke from many fires burning across Cuba moved to the north during the
day with some of the very thin density smoke making it as far as the
Florida Keys.

Gulf of Mexico/Southern Texas:
Visible satellite imagery showed large patches of aerosol spread over a
good portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Smoke from the increasing amount of
seasonal burning occurring over Mexico and Central America was likely
a major component of this aerosol. Smoke was particularly prominent
in satellite imagery over the Bay of Campeche extending northward
to the western Gulf of Mexico and possibly inland over southern Texas
although cloudiness interfered with determining the extent of smoke over
Texas. More smoke appeared to spread northward into the central Gulf of
Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula and from the western Caribbean.

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

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.