Wednesday, April 6, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0245Z April 07, 2011

Central Plains:
Numerous fires burning today across central/eastern Kansas and into
northern/central Oklahoma produced a large area of light smoke that
extends throughout that region. Some moderate to heavy smoke embedded
within the lighter smoke can be seen near the central KS/OK border. A
frontal boundary is currently placed across southeast Kansas and central
Oklahoma which is allowing for northwesterly flow behind the front where
the smoke is moving mostly to the south and east and a southwesterly
flow ahead of the front where the smoke from central Oklahoma is moving
northeastward into portions of Missouri.

Western Texas:
Large fires today in west Texas produced very large smoke plumes that
quickly traveled eastward due to the high winds in that region. One fire
in particular near Aspermont, TX (about 175 miles to the northwest of
Fort Worth, TX) produced a very large and dense smoke plume that traveled
all the way to about Lake Texoma on the TX/OK border.

Southern Texas/Western Gulf of Mexico/Lower Mississippi Valley:
The large fires continued to burn today through northern Coahuila,
Mexico and produce heavy smoke that traveled eastward into southern
Texas. There is also a rather large area of remnant light smoke that was
seen in this morning's imagery that has since moved eastward and is now
located through eastern Texas and into parts of northwest Louisiana and
southern/central Arkansas.

Southeast US:
Numerous fires today throughout Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama
produced many smoke plumes moving to the north. Some in Alabama and
southern Mississippi produced plumes that traveled about 100 miles or
more from their point source.


Belge


Earlier Today:
East Coast USA:
An area of light remnant smoke was seen moving east off east coast
US. The smoke stretched from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod. This remnant
smoke can be attributed to the wildfires burning over northern Coahulia,
Mexico and the numerous agricultural fires across the Central Plains.

Earle


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.